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

Kurz, T.; Heinemann, T.; Gilljohann, M. F.; Chang, Y.-Y.; Couperus Cabadağ, J. P.; Debus, A.; Kononenko, O.; Pausch, R.; Schöbel, S.; Assmann, R. W.; Bussmann, M.; Ding, H.; Götzfried, J.; Köhler, A.; Raj, G.; Schindler, S.; Steiniger, K.; Zarini, O.; Corde, S.; Döpp, A.; Hidding, B.; Karsch, S.; Schramm, U.; Martinez De La Ossa, A.; Irman, A.

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 GVm⁻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.

Keywords: Laser; Plasma; High energy electrons; X-Rays; Hybrid; High brightness

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-32574
Publ.-Id: 32574