Proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration: a path to the future of high-energy particle physics

• Main Author: Assmann, R.
• Publication Date: 2014
• Other Authors: Bingham, R., Bohl, T., Bracco, C., Buttenschön, B., Butterworth, A., Caldwell, A., Chattopadhyay, S., Cipiccia, S., Feldbaumer, E., Fonseca, R. A., Goddard, B., Gross, M., Grulke, O., Gschwendtner, E., Holloway, J., Huang, C. K., Jaroszynski, D., Jolly, S., Kempkes, P., Lopes, N. C., Lotov, K., Machacek, J., Mandry, S. R., McKenzie, J. W., Meddahi, M., Militsyn, B. L., Moschuering, N., Muggli, P., Najmudin, Z., Noakes, T. C. Q., Norreys, P., Öz, E., Pardons, A., Petrenko, A., Pukhov, A., Rieger, K., Reimann, O., Ruhl, H., Shaposhnikova, E., Silva, L. O., Sosedkin, A., Tarkeshian, R., Trines, R. M. G. M., Tückmantel, T., Vieira, J., Vincke, H., Wing, M., Xia, G.
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: https://ciencia.iscte-iul.pt/public/pub/id/17804; http://hdl.handle.net/10071/8162
• topic: Proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration; Accelerators; Plasma physics

New acceleration technology is mandatory for the future elucidation of fundamental particles and their interactions. A promising approach is to exploit the properties of plasmas. Past research has focused on creating large-amplitude plasma waves by injecting an intense laser pulse or an electron bunch into the plasma. However, the maximum energy gain of electrons accelerated in a single plasma stage is limited by the energy of the driver. Proton bunches are the most promising drivers of wakefields to accelerate electrons to the TeV energy scale in a single stage. An experimental program at CERN—the AWAKE experiment—has been launched to study in detail the important physical processes and to demonstrate the power of proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration. Here we review the physical principles and some experimental considerations for a future proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator.