A novel technique for compact accelerators

Margarita Synanidi — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 15:51:24 +0000

A novel technique for compact accelerators
by Edda Gschwendtner (CERN) and Victor Malka (CNRS)

Conceptual Design of the AWAKE experiment at CERN. The major elements of the experiment are shown and the expected effects are described.
Image credit: CERN.

Circular electron colliders are not feasible at TeV energies; hence future TeV accelerator designs are based on linear colliders. However, as the beam energy increases, the scale and cost of conventional machines become very large. New acceleration technology is mandatory for the future of particle physics, to build more affordable and compact accelerators for various applications (e.g. medical). A rapidly developing, promising candidate is the Plasma Wakefield acceleration.

Plasma acceleration is a novel technique for accelerating charged particles using an electric field associated with electron plasma wave or other high-gradient plasma structures. A Proton Driven Plasma Wakefield Acceleration Experiment has been proposed as an approach to use high-energy protons to drive a plasma wakefield in a single plasma section for an electron beam acceleration to the TeV energy range.

To verify this novel technique, AWAKE has been launched at CERN as the first proton-driven wakefield acceleration experiment worldwide, using 400 GeV proton bunches from the CERN SPS. First beam to the plasma cell is expected for end 2016. The result of AWAKE will have a strong impact on future larger-scale R&D projects on proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration and could open a pathway towards a revolutionary plasma-based TeV lepton collider.

AWAKE experts are working closely together with experts from the Novel Acceleration Techniques (ANAC2) Work Package of EuCARD-2. The goal of task 13.4 of this WP is to develop concepts for the instrumentation of the plasma cell that can have a length of 10s of meters.

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A novel technique for compact accelerators