Low Jitter Capillary Discharge Channels

Generation of low jitter capillary discharge channels triggered by a relatively low-energy laser pulse is reported. For ablative discharges in polyethylene and boron nitride capillaries, the dependences of the breakdown delay and jitter on the incident laser intensity and discharge voltage are presented. Low jitter (5 ns and less) and the absence of electric noise associated with the discharge ignition make this method very useful for applications such as channel-guided laser-wakefield accelerators and x-ray lasers, where precise synchronization of the discharge with a laser and/or electron beam entering the channel is required. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.