Related papers: Introduction to Plasma Accelerators: the Basics
The following notes are intended to provide a brief primer in plasma physics, introducing common definitions, basic properties and processes typically found in plasmas. These concepts are inherent in contemporary plasma-based accelerator…
Beam-driven collinear wakefield accelerators (CWAs) that operate by using slow-wave structures or plasmas hold great promise toward reducing the size of contemporary accelerators. Sustainable acceleration of charged particles to high…
Injection of well-defined, high-quality electron populations into plasma waves is a key challenge of plasma wakefield accelerators. Here, we report on the first experimental demonstration of plasma density downramp injection in an…
It is shown that two circularly polarised Alfv\'en waves that propagate along the ambient magnetic field in an uniform plasma trigger non oscillating electromagnetic field components when they cross each other. The non-oscilliating field…
The rapid progress that plasma wakefield accelerators are experiencing is now posing the question as to whether they could be included in the design of the next generation of high-energy electron-positron colliders. However, the typical…
Plasma Wakefield Accelerators promise huge acceleration gradients that are three orders of magnitude greater than today's conventional radio frequency (RF) accelerators. These novel accelerators show also the potential of diminishing the…
Autoresonant phase-locking of the plasma wakefield to the beat frequency of two driving lasers offers advantages over conventional wakefield acceleration methods, since it requires less demanding laser parameters and is robust to variations…
Plasma-based acceleration schemes have attracted sustained interest as a pathway toward compact particle accelerators, owing to the large electric fields supported by plasmas. Although recent studies have demonstrated the excitation of…
As one of the leading acceleration mechanisms in laser-driven underdense plasmas, direct laser acceleration (DLA) is capable of producing high-energy-density electron beams in a plasma channel for many applications. However, the mechanism…
Recent studies have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons to MeV energies in ambient air using tightly focused laser configurations. In this article, we explore possible strategies to control and optimize the resulting…
Plasma-based accelerators have achieved tremendous progress in the past few decades, thanks to the advances of high power lasers and the availability of high-energy and relativistic particle beams. However, the electrons (or positrons)…
Frequency up-shifting of laser light in a beam-driven plasma wakefield has the potential to provide high-intensity sources of short wavelength radiation. Simulations have demonstrated that a laser pulse can undergo large frequency shifts,…
The FLASHForward experimental facility is a high-performance test-bed for precision plasma-wakefield research, aiming to accelerate high-quality electron beams to GeV-levels in a few centimetres of ionised gas. The plasma is created by…
Being the most extreme explosions in the universe, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide a unique laboratory to study various plasma physics phenomena. The complex lightcurve and broad-band, non-thermal spectra indicate a very complicated system…
We have detected the presence of very high intensity surface waves that are excited during plasma waveguided laser wakefield acceleration. Wakefield acceleration can be enchanced by the introduction of an ``all optical" plasma waveguide…
Electron acceleration by relativistically intense laser beam propagating along a curved surface allows to split softly the accelerated electron bunch and the laser beam. The presence of a curved surface allows to switch an adiabatic…
Relativistic sources, e.g. gamma-ray bursts, pulsar wind nebulae and powerful active galactic nuclei produce relativistic outflows that lead to the formation of collisionless shock waves, where particle acceleration is thought to take…
Plasma wakefield acceleration is a method for accelerating particle beams using electromagnetic fields that are orders of magnitude larger than those found in conventional radio frequency cavities. The core component of a plasma wakefield…
Magnetowave induced plasma wakefield acceleration (MPWA) in a relativistic astrophysical outflow has been proposed as a viable mechanism for the acceleration of cosmic particles to ultra high energies. Here we present simulation results…
Plasmas are a compelling medium for particle acceleration owing to their natural ability to sustain electric fields that are orders of magnitude larger than those available in conventional radio-frequency accelerators. Plasmas are also…