I. Blumenfeld

Energy doubling of 42 GeV electrons in a metre-scale plasma wakefield accelerator

The energy frontier of particle physics is several trillion electron volts, but colliders capable of reaching this regime (such as the Large Hadron Collider and the International Linear Collider) are costly and time-consuming to build; it is therefore important to explore new methods of accelerating particles to high energies. Plasma-based accelerators are particularly attractive because they are capable of producing accelerating fields that are orders of magnitude larger than those used in conventional colliders. In these accelerators, a drive beam (either laser or particle) produces a plasma wave (wakefield) that accelerates charged particles. The ultimate utility of plasma accelerators will depend on sustaining ultrahigh accelerating fields over a substantial length to achieve a significant energy gain. Here we show that an energy gain of more than 42 GeV is achieved in a plasma wakefield accelerator of 85 cm length, driven by a 42 GeV electron beam at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). The results are in excellent agreement with the predictions of three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Most of the beam electrons lose energy to the plasma wave, but some electrons in the back of the same beam pulse are accelerated with a field of ∼52 GV m-1. This effectively doubles their energy, producing the energy gain of the 3-km-long SLAC accelerator in less than a metre for a small fraction of the electrons in the injected bunch. This is an important step towards demonstrating the viability of plasma accelerators for high-energy physics applications.

Emittance growth from Multiple Coulomb Scattering in a plasma wakefield accelerator

Emittance growth is an important issue for plasma wakefield accelerators (PWFAs). Multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS) is one factor that contributes to this growth. Here, the MCS emittance growth of an electron beam traveling through a PWFA in the blow out regime is calculated. The calculation uses well established formulas for angular scatter in a neutral vapor and then extends the range of Coulomb interaction to include the effects of traveling through an ion column. Emittance growth is negligible for low Z materials; however, becomes important for high Z materials.

Energy Measurements of Trapped Electrons from a Plasma Wakefield Accelerator

Recent electron beam driven plasma wakefield accelerator experiments carried out at SLAC indicate trapping of plasma electrons. More charge came out of than went into the plasma. Most of this extra charge had energies at or below the 10 MeV level. In addition, there were trapped electron streaks that extended from a few GeV to tens of GeV, and there were mono-energetic trapped electron bunches with tens of GeV in energy.

Energy measurement in a plasma wakefield accelerator

In the E-167 plasma wakefield acceleration experiment, electrons with an initial energy of 42 GeV are accelerated in a meter-scale lithium plasma. Particles are leaving plasma with a large energy spread. To determine the spectrum of the accelerated particles, a two-plane spectrometer has been set up.

Correlation of beam parameters to decelerating gradient in the E-167 plasma wakefield acceleration experiment

Recent experiments at SLAC have shown that high gradient acceleration of electrons is achievable in meter scale plasmas [1,2]. Results from these experiments show that the wakefield is sensitive to parameters in the electron beam which drives it. In the experiment the bunch length and beam waist location were varied systematically at constant charge. Here we investigate the correlation of peak beam current to the decelerating gradient. Limits on the transformer ratio will also be discussed. The results are compared to simulation.

Emittance measurements of trapped electrons from a plasma wakefield accelerator

Recent electron beam driven plasma wakefield accelerator experiments carried out at SLAC showed trapping of plasma electrons. These trapped electrons appeared on an energy spectrometer with smaller transverse size than the beam driving the wake. A connection is made between transverse size and emittance; due to the spectrometers resolution, this connection allows for placing an upper limit on the trapped electron emittance. The upper limit for the lowest normalized emittance measured in the experiment is 1 mm-mrad.

Electron Bunch Length Measurements in the E‐167 Plasma Wakefield Experiment

Bunch length is of prime importance to beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiments due to its inverse relationship to the amplitude of the accelerating wake. We present here a summary of work done by the E167 collaboration measuring the SLAC ultra-short bunches via autocorrelation of coherent transition radiation. We have studied material transmission properties and improved our autocorrelation traces using materials with better spectral characteristics.

A Meter‐Scale Plasma Wakefield Accelerator

Plasma wakefield accelerators (PWFA) have recently shown substantial progress, attaining accelerating fields of more than 30 GV/m. The goal of the present experiment is to show that such accelerating fields can be sustained over the scale of a meter, resulting in a total energy gain comparable to the entire SLAC linear accelerator. We also seek to determine which factors limit the length of the interaction and determine the maximum achievable energy.

Bunch Length Measurements Using Coherent Radiation

The accelerating field that can be obtained in a beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerator depends on the current of the electron beam that excites the wake. In the E-167 experiment, a peak current above 10 kA will be delivered at a particle energy of 28 GeV. The bunch has a length of a few ten micrometers and several methods are used to measure its longitudinal profile. Among these, autocorrelation of coherent transition radiation (CTR) is employed. The beam passes a thin metallic foil, where it emits transition radiation. For wavelengths greater than the bunch length, this transition radiation is emitted coherently. This amplifies the long-wavelength part of the spectrum. A scanning Michelson interferometer is used to autocorrelate the CTR. However, this method requires the contribution of many bunches to build an autocorrelation trace. The measurement is influenced by the transmission characteristics of the vacuum window and beam splitter. We present here an analysis of materials, as well as possible layouts for a single shot CTR autocorrelator.

Measurement of the Decelerating Wake in a Plasma Wakefield Accelerator

Recent experiments at SLAC have shown that high gradient acceleration of electrons is achievable in meter scale plasmas. Results from these experiments show that the wakefield is sensitive to parameters in the electron beam which drives it. In the experiment the bunch lengths were varied systematically at constant charge. The effort to extract a measurement of the decelerating wake from the maximum energy loss of the electron beam is discussed.