Accelerator Research and Development

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Modern accelerator facilities and systems represent a decisive technology of the future. They are indispensable when it comes to answering the major questions of our time. Today, accelerator systems are not only used in fundamental research, but also for innovations in materials research, bio and nano sciences, active ingredients research, and medical applications such as cancer therapy. The development of innovative accelerators is already today and also continues to be in the future a driving force for the exploration of new high tech fields. The Helmholtz Association's research centers in Hamburg, Darmstadt, Berlin, Jülich, Karlsruhe and Dresden have now joined forces to optimally use their synergies in this sector. In addition, an important task of the cooperation partners revolves around the education and training of young scientists.

Already today, the research facility ELBE – which is based on a superconducting electron linear accelerator operated by the HZDR – permits the acceleration of ultrashort electron bunches in a quality which allows scientists to conduct significantly more and better experiments within a shorter period of time than with comparable, normal conducting accelerators. Within the scope of the research topic “Accelerator Research and Development,” which is also a Helmholtz portfolio topic, methods for electron beam diagnostics on superconducting accelerators are to be optimized further so that it will be possible to operate light sources with improved properties. Other research topics include, for example, innovative particle sources, electron-photon interactions, and ultrashort particle bunches as well as innovative concepts for circular accelerators and accelerators with ultrahigh gradients.

Press Releases

• When electrons ride a wave
• Helmholtz-Gemein­schaft fördert ATHENA-Projekt mit 29,99 Mio. Euro
• Graphene enables clock rates in the terahertz range
• Extremely small and fast: laser ignites hot plasma
• Wie der Teilchenstrahl seine Struktur bekommt
• Fusion by strong lasers
• Laser-plasma accelerators without limits
• A closer look at superconductors
• Seven at one pulse
• Dynamic, yet inertial – and definitely futuristic
• Zeitreise zum Urknall
• Power boost thanks to gold lamellae: Research team develops new material system to con­vert and generate terahertz waves
• Digital fron­tier­ runners: CASUS involved in development of the world's largest supercompu­ter Fron­tier­
• Dresdner Team am JUWELS Booster: HZDR-Forscher­*innen testen Rechenkraft von Europas leis­tungs­fähigstem Supercompu­ter
• Dem Unbekannten auf der Spur: Ehemalige HZDR-Doktorandin erhält Preis der Amerikanischen Physikalischen Gesell­schaft
• Exploring the origin of the elements
• Spuren(elemente) kosmischer Explosionen
• Electrons riding a double wave: Research team presents a new type of particle accelerator
• Seeking a fas­ter pathway to synthetic data
• Fresh momentum for cutting-edge research from Germany
• An X-ray view of carbon: New measurement method promises spectacular insights into the interior of planets
• IReNA: Das Netzwerk der Netzwerke
• Producing medical isotopes at extreme energy density
• Laser flashes for cancer research - Research team achieves milestone in proton irradiation
• Schnelleres Licht für die Spitzen­for­schung aus Deutschland
• Milestone for laser technology: demonstration of a free-electron laser driven by plasma accelerated electron beams
• Laser-driven creation of high-energy ions brings next-gen accelerators out of the lab

Involved HZDR institutes

• Institute of Radiation Physics
• Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research

Collaborations

• Karlsruher Institut für Techno­logie
• Deutsches Elek­tronen­-Synchrotron DESY
• Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Material­ien und Energie
• For­schungs­zentrum Jülich
• GSI Helmholtz­zentrum für Schwerionen­for­schung

Contacts

• Prof. Dr. Peter Michel
• Prof. Dr. Thomas Cowan
• Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schramm

Publications

• Perez-Martin, P.; Prencipe, I.; Sobiella, M. et al.
  A novel multi-shot target platform for laser-driven laboratory astrophysics experiments
  High Power Laser Science and Engineering (2023) (10.1017/hpl.2023.8)
• Schaber, J.; Xiang, R.; Arnold, A. et al.
  Impact of various cleaning procedures on p-GaN surfaces
  Surface and Interface Analysis (2023) (10.1002/sia.7207)
• Bock, S.; Oksenhendler, T.; Püschel, T. et al.
  Spectral-temporal Measurement Capabilities of Third-order Correlators
  Optics Express 31(2023)6, 9923-9934 (10.1364/opticaopen.21922056)
• Jeandet, A.; Jolly, S. W.; Borot, A. et al.
  Survey of spatio-temporal couplings throughout high-power ultrashort lasers
  Optics Express 30(2022)3, 3262-3288 (10.1364/OE.444564)
• Kon, A.; Nishiuchi, M.; Fukuda, Y. et al.
  Characterization of the plasma mirror system at the J-KAREN-P facility
  High Power Laser Science and Engineering 10(2022), e25 (10.1017/hpl.2022.15)
• Schaber, J.; Xiang, R.; Teichert, J. et al.
  Influence of surface carbon on the performance of cesiated p-GaN photocathodes with high quantum efficiency
  Scientific Reports 13(2023), 3188 (10.1038/s41598-023-30329-0)
• Schaber, J.; Xiang, R.; Gaponik, N.
  Review of Photocathodes for electron beam sources in particle accelerators
  Journal of Materials Chemistry C 11(2023), 3162-3179 (10.1039/D2TC03729G)
• Labat, M.; Couperus Cabadağ, J. P.; Ghaith, A. et al.
  Seeded free-electron laser driven by a compact laser plasma accelerator
  Nature Photonics 17(2023), 150-156 (10.1038/s41566-022-01104-w)
• Foerster, F. M.; Döpp, A.; Haberstroh, F. et al.
  Stable and High-Quality Electron Beams from Staged Laser and Plasma Wakefield Accelerators
  Physical Review X 12(2022), 041016 (10.1103/PhysRevX.12.041016)
• Streeter, M. J. V.; Ma, Y.; Kettle, B. et al.
  Characterization of laser wakefield acceleration efficiency with octave spanning near-IR spectrum measurements
  Physical Review Accelerators and Beams 25(2022), 101302 (10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.25.101302)
• Bernert, C.; Assenbaum, S.; Bock, S. et al.
  Transient Laser-Induced Breakdown of Dielectrics in Ultrarelativistic Laser-Solid Interactions
  Physical Review Applied 19(2023), 014070 (10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.014070)
• Schöbel, S.; Pausch, R.; Chang, Y.-Y. et al.
  Effect of driver charge on wakefield characteristics in a plasma accelerator probed by femtosecond shadowgraphy
  New Journal of Physics 24(2022), 083034 (10.1088/1367-2630/ac87c9)
• Bohlin, H.; Brack, F.-E.; Cervenak, M. et al.
  Laser-generated supersonic plasma jets and shocks in a transverse magnetic field
  Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 64(2022), 085003 (10.1088/1361-6587/ac7416)
• Reimold, M.; Assenbaum, S.; Bernert, C. et al.
  Time-of-Flight spectroscopy for laser-driven proton beam monitoring
  Scientific Reports 112(2022), 21488 (10.1038/s41598-022-25120-6)
• Maalberg, A.; Kuntzsch, M.; Petlenkov, E.
  Real-Time Regulation of Beam-Based Feedback: Implementing an FPGA Solution for a Continuous Wave Linear Accelerator
  Sensors 22(2022), 16 (10.3390/s22166236)
• Xiang, R.; Schaber, J.
  Review of recent progress on advanced photocathodes for SC RF guns
  Micromachines 13(2022), 1241 (10.3390/mi13081241)
• Schaber, J.; Xiang, R.; Teichert, J. et al.
  Influence of surface cleaning on quantum efficiency, lifetime and surface morphology of p-GaN:Cs photocathodes
  Micromachines 13(2022)6, 849 (10.3390/mi13060849)
• Keppler, S.; Elkina, N.; Becker, G. A. et al.
  Intensity scaling limitations of laser-driven proton acceleration in the TNSA-regime
  Physical Review Research 4(2022), 013065 (10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.013065)
• Bernert, C.; Assenbaum, S.; Brack, F.-E. et al.
  Off-harmonic optical probing of high-intensity laser-plasma expansion dynamics in solid-density hydrogen jets
  Scientific Reports 12(2022), 7287 (10.1038/s41598-022-10797-6)
• Göthel, I.; Bernert, C.; Bussmann, M. et al.
  Optimized laser ion acceleration at the relativistic critical density surface
  Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 64(2022)4, 044010 (10.1088/1361-6587/ac4e9f)
• Kroll, F.; Brack, F.-E.; Bernert, C. et al.
  Tumor irradiation in mice with a laser-accelerated proton beam
  Nature Physics 18(2022), 316-322 (10.1038/s41567-022-01520-3)
• Zarini, O.; Couperus Cabadağ, J. P.; Chang, Y.-Y. et al.
  Multi-octave high-dynamic range optical spectrometer for single-pulse, longitudinal characterization of ultrashort electron bunches
  Physical Review Accelerators and Beams 25(2022)1, 012801 (10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.25.012801)
• Lu, P.; Arnold, A.; Teichert, J. et al.
  Simulation of ELBE SRF gun II for high-bunch-charge applications
  Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 830(2016), 536-544 (10.1016/j.nima.2016.05.087)
• Xiang, R.; Arnold, A.; Kamps, T. et al.
  Experimental studies of dark current in a superconducting RF photo-injector
  Physical Review Accelerators and Beams 17(2014)4, 043401 (10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.17.043401)
• Teichert, J.; Arnold, A.; Büttig, H. et al.
  Free-Electron Laser Operation with a Superconducting Radio-Frequency Photoinjector at ELBE
  Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 743(2014), 114-120 (10.1016/j.nima.2014.01.006)

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