  A 'plasma lens' might be used to enhance the luminosity of future linear
colliders. However, its utility for this purpose depends largely on the
potential backgrounds that may be induced by the insertion of such a device in
the interaction region of the detector. In this note we identify different
sources of such backgrounds, calculate their event rates from the elementary
interaction processes, and evaluate their effects on the major parts of a
hypothetical Next Linear Collider (NLC) detector. For plasma lens parameters
which give a factor of seven enhancement of the luminosity, and using the NLC
design for beam parameters as a reference, we find that the background yields
are fairly high, and require further study and improvements in detector
technology to avoid their impact.

High Energy Physics - Experiment