A numerical study on plasma acceleration processes with ion dynamics at the sub-nanosecond timescale
Abstract
Plasma wakefield acceleration is a groundbreaking technique for accelerating particles, capable of sustaining gigavolt-per-meter accelerating fields. Understanding the physical mechanisms governing the recovery of plasma accelerating properties over time is essential for successfully achieving high-repetition-rate plasma acceleration, a key requirement for applicability in both research and commercial settings. In this paper, we present numerical simulations of the early-stage plasma evolution based on the parameters of the SPARC_LAB hydrogen plasma recovery time experiment (Pompili et al., Comm. Phys. 7, 241 (2024)), employing spatially resolved Particle-in-Cell and fluid models. The experiment reports on a non-monotonic dependence of the plasma recovery time on the initial plasma density, an effect for which ion motion has been invoked as a contributing factor. The simulations presented here provide further insight into the role of ion dynamics in shaping this behavior. Furthermore, comparing Particle-in-Cell and fluid approaches allows us to assess the quality of fluid models for describing this class of plasma dynamics.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.03754,
title = {A numerical study on plasma acceleration processes with ion dynamics at the sub-nanosecond timescale},
author = {G. Parise and A. Cianchi and M. Galletti and F. Guglietta and R. Pompili and A. R. Rossi and M. Sbragaglia and D. Simeoni},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.03754},
year = {2026}
}