'Heater' Laser Pulse Animation (VIDEO) DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory This video is under embargo. Please login to access this video. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Caption This animation shows a plasma channel's electron density profile (blue) formed inside a sapphire tube (gray) with the combination of an electrical discharge and an 8-nanosecond 'heater' laser pulse (red, orange, and yellow). Time is shown in nanoseconds. This plasma channel was used to guide femtoseconds-long "driver" laser pulses from the BELLA petawatt laser system, which generated plasma waves and accelerated electrons to 8 billion electron volts in just 20 centimeters. Credit Gennadiy Bagdasarov/Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics; Anthony Gonsalves/Berkeley Lab Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.