Supersonic gas jet catcher system for differential pumping in laser-plasma interaction experiments

Year: 2026

Authors: Lorenz S., Lazzarini CM., Zymak I., Baffigi F., Brandi F., Ezzat M., Fregosi A., Gizzi L.A., Jech M., Koester P., Labate L., Nevrkla M., Palla D., Spodovb A., Sisma J., Goncalves LVN., Vitha F., Voboril P., Bulanov S., Grittani G.M.

Autors Affiliation: Extreme Light Infrastruct ERIC, ELI Beamlines Facil, Za Radnici 835, Dolni Brezany 25241, Czech Republic; Czech Tech Univ, Fac Nucl Sci & Phys Engn, Prague, Czech Republic; CNR, Ist Nazl Ott, Pisa, Italy; Czech Tech Univ, Fac Informat Technol, Prague, Czech Republic.

Abstract: Laser-driven sources are quickly becoming an important instrument in several areas of research. Recent developments of high-repetition-rate lasers (multi-TW at kHz) call for an upgrade of the gas target technology. We report the design, implementation and testing of a novel supersonic gas jet catcher system for differential pumping in laser-plasma interaction experiments. This system allows increasing the gas load by one to two orders of magnitude, enabling continuous flow operation for the sub-mm nozzles typically used in high-repetition-rate laser wakefield accelerators. It is minimally invasive, as it is positioned a few mm above from the laser-plasma interaction; thus, it can be integrated in advanced laser accelerator beamlines that utilize complex target geometries and multiple laser pulses.

Journal/Review: HIGH POWER LASER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Volume: 14      Pages from: e62-1  to: e62-9

More Information: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and Czech Science Foundation under NSF-GACR collaborative Grant No. 2206059 from the Czech Science Foundation Grant No. 22-42963L, and received funding through the projects EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase, under Grant Agreement No. 101079773 and EU Horizon IFAST, under Grant Agreement No. 101004730. The research has been co-funded by the European Union-NextGeneration EU through the Italian PNRR MUR projects ’Integrated infrastructure initiative in Photonic and Quantum Sciences’- I-PHOQS (IR0000016, ID D2B8D520, CUP B53C22001750006), ’EuPRAXIA Advanced Photon Sources’ – EuAPS (IR0000030, CUP I93C21000160006) and ’Tuscany Health Ecosystem (THE)-Spoke 1: Advanced Radiotherapies and Diagnostics in Oncology’ (ECS00000017, D.D. MUR No. 1055 23 May 2022).
KeyWords: differential pumping; gas catcher; gas target; laser-plasma acceleration
DOI: 10.1017/hpl.2026.10148