Laser-plasma accelerator group

Abstract:

The laser alignment system of the ZEUS microvertex detector is described. The detector was installed in 2001 as part of an upgrade programme in preparation for the second phase of electron-proton physics at the HERA collider. The alignment system monitors the position of the vertex detector support structure with respect to the central tracking detector using semi-transparent amorphous-silicon sensors and diode lasers. The system is fully integrated into the general environmental monitoring of the ZEUS detector and data has been collected over a period of 5 years. The primary aim of defining periods of stability for track-based alignment has been achieved and the system is able to measure movements of the support structure to a precision around 10 μ m. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

Selective enhancement (>103) of harmonics extending to the water window (∼4nm) generated in an argon gas filled straight bore capillary waveguide is demonstrated. This enhancement is in good agreement with modeling which indicates that multimode quasi-phase-matching is achieved by rapid axial intensity modulations caused by beating between the fundamental and higher-order capillary modes. Substantial pulse energies (>10nJ per pulse per harmonic order) at wavelengths beyond the carbon K edge (∼4.37nm, ∼284eV) up to ∼360eV are observed from argon ions for the first time. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

Bose-Einstein correlations of charged and neutral kaons have been measured in e ± p deep inelastic scattering with an integrated luminosity of 121   pb -1 using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The two-particle correlation function was studied as a function of the four-momentum difference of the kaon pairs, Q 12 = sqrt(- (p 1 - p 2) 2), assuming a Gaussian shape for the particle source. The values of the radius of the production volume, r, and of the correlation strength, λ, were obtained for both neutral and charged kaons. The radii for charged and neutral kaons are similar and are consistent with those obtained at LEP. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

A linear array of n calcite crystals is shown to allow the generation of a high contrast (>10:1) train of 2(n) high energy (>100 microJ) pulses from a single ultrafast laser pulse. Advantage is taken of the pulse-splitting properties of a single birefringent crystal, where an incident laser pulse can be split into two pulses with orthogonal polarizations and equal intensity, separated temporally in proportion to the thickness of the crystal traversed and the difference in refractive indices of the two optic axes. In the work presented here an array of seven calcite crystals of sequentially doubled thickness is used to produce a train of 128 pulses, each of femtosecond duration. Readily versatile properties such as the number of pulses in the train and variable mark-space ratio are realized from such a setup.