Demonstration of a compact plasma accelerator powered by laser-accelerated electron beams

Abstract

Plasma wakefield accelerators are capable of sustaining gigavolt-per-centimeter accelerating fields, surpassing the electric breakdown threshold in state-of-the-art accelerator modules by 3-4 orders of magnitude. Beam-driven wakefields offer particularly attractive conditions for the generation and acceleration of high-quality beams. However, this scheme relies on kilometer-scale accelerators. Here, we report on the demonstration of a millimeter-scale plasma accelerator powered by laser-accelerated electron beams. We showcase the acceleration of electron beams to 128 MeV, consistent with simulations exhibiting accelerating gradients exceeding 100 GV m−1. This miniaturized accelerator is further explored by employing a controlled pair of drive and witness electron bunches, where a fraction of the driver energy is transferred to the accelerated witness through the plasma. Such a hybrid approach allows fundamental studies of beam-driven plasma accelerator concepts at widely accessible high-power laser facilities. It is anticipated to provide compact sources of energetic high-brightness electron beams for quality-demanding applications such as free-electron lasers.

Driving positron beam acceleration with coherent transition radiation

“…The requirements for the external magnetic field will be more tolerant if the electron bunch is more collimated in stage I. In experiments, it is necessary to deplete laser pulse energy (e.g., increase the jet-foil distance or put a laser blocker between stage I and stage II) to avoid the laser-solid interaction [38][39][40][41] .…”

High-power, high-brightness solid-state laser architectures and their characteristics

“…Such an application can be the generation of attosecond pulses, which then are used to study matter on atomic scales [212]. Another (future) promising application could be the miniaturization of particle-based radiation sources by making use of the high accelerating gradients of beam-driven wakefields [213]. These sources would enable a variety of applications in the medical [214] and material sciences [215].…”

Generation of ultrahigh-brightness pre-bunched beams from a plasma cathode for X-ray free-electron lasers

“…A driver with lower current or non-ideal size excites a smaller wake which would generate a bunched beam with larger harmonic number h (see Supplementary Note 6 ) but a lower peak current 25 , 54 . The electron beams produced in laser-plasma wakefield accelerators are also suitable to be used as drivers 55 . Laser pulses could also be used directly as drivers to produced bunched beams (see Supplementary Note 6 ).…”