Transverse self-modulation of ultra-relativistic lepton beams in the plasma wakefield accelerator
Abstract
The transverse self-modulation of ultra-relativistic, long lepton bunches in high-density plasmas is explored through full-scale particle-in-cell simulations. We demonstrate that long SLAC-type electron and positron bunches can become strongly self-modulated over centimeter distances, leading to wake excitation in the blowout regime with accelerating fields in excess of 20 GV/m. We show that particles energy variations exceeding 10 GeV can occur in meter-long plasmas. We find that the self-modulation of positively and negatively charged bunches differ when the blowout is reached. Seeding the self-modulation instability suppresses the competing hosing instability. This work reveals that a proof-of-principle experiment to test the physics of bunch self-modulation can be performed with available lepton bunches and with existing experimental apparatus and diagnostics.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1206.0792,
title = {Transverse self-modulation of ultra-relativistic lepton beams in the plasma wakefield accelerator},
author = {J. Vieira and Y. Fang and W. B. Mori and L. O. Silva and P. Muggli},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1206.0792},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
8 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Physics of Plasmas