T. Katsouleas

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.

OSIRIS: A Three-Dimensional, Fully Relativistic Particle in Cell Code for Modeling Plasma Based Accelerators

We describe OSIRIS, a three-dimensional, relativistic, massively parallel, object oriented particle-in-cell code for modeling plasma based accelerators. Developed in Fortran 90, the code runs on multiple platforms (Cray T3E, IBM SP, Mac clusters) and can be easily ported to new ones. Details on the codes capabilities are given. We discuss the object-oriented design of the code, the encapsulation of system dependent code and the parallelization of the algorithms involved. We also discuss the implementation of communications as a boundary condition problem and other key characteristics of the code, such as the moving window, open-space and thermal bath boundaries, arbitrary domain decomposition, 2D (cartesian and cylindric) and 3D simulation modes, electron sub-cycling, energy conservation and particle and field diagnostics. Finally results from three-dimensional simulations of particle and laser wakefield accelerators are presented, in connection with the data analysis and visualization infrastructure developed to post-process the scalar and vector results from PIC simulations.

A nonlinear theory for multidimensional relativistic plasma wave wakefields

A nonlinear kinetic theory for multidimensional plasma wave wakes with phase velocities near the speed of light is presented. This theory is appropriate for describing plasma wakes excited in the so-called blowout regime by either electron beams or laser pulses where the plasma electrons move predominantly in the transverse direction. The theory assumes that all electrons within a blowout radius are completely expelled. These radially expelled electrons form a narrow sheath just beyond the blowout radius which is surrounded by a region which responds weakly (linearly). This assumption is reasonable when the spot size of the electron beam and laser are substantially less than the blowout radius. By using this theory one can predict the wakefield amplitudes and blowout radius in terms of the electron beam or laser beam parameters, as well as predict the nonlinear modifications to the wake’s wavelength and wave form. For the laser case, the laser spot size must also be properly matched in order for a narrow sheath to form. The requirements for forming a spherical wave form, i.e., “bubble,” are also discussed. The theory is also used to show when linear fluid theory breaks down and how this leads to a saturation of the logarithmic divergence in the linear Green’s function.

The evolution of ultra‐intense, short‐pulse lasers in underdense plasmas

The propagation of short‐pulse lasers through underdense plasmas at ultra‐high intensities (I≥1019 W/cm) is examined. The pulse evolution is found to be significantly different than it is for moderate intensities. The pulse breakup is dominated by leading edge erosion and plasma wave wake formation rather than from Raman forward scattering type instabilities. A differential equation which describes local pump depletion is derived and used to analyze the formation and evolution of the erosion. Pulse erosion is demonstrated with one dimensional particle in cell (PIC) simulations. In addition, two dimensional simulations are presented which show pulse erosion along with other effects such as channeling and diffraction. Possible applications for plasma based accelerators and light sources are discussed.

Beam loading in the nonlinear regime of plasma-based acceleration.

A theory that describes how to load negative charge into a nonlinear, three-dimensional plasma wakefield is presented. In this regime, a laser or an electron beam blows out the plasma electrons and creates a nearly spherical ion channel, which is modified by the presence of the beam load. Analytical solutions for the fields and the shape of the ion channel are derived. It is shown that very high beam-loading efficiency can be achieved, while the energy spread of the bunch is conserved. The theoretical results are verified with the particle-in-cell code OSIRIS.

QUICKPIC: a highly efficient particle-in-cell code for modeling wakefield acceleration in plasmas

A highly efficient, fully parallelized, fully relativistic, three-dimensional particle-in-cell model for simulating plasma and laser wakefield acceleration is described. The model is based on the quasi-static or frozen field approximation, which reduces a fully three-dimensional electromagnetic field solve and particle push to a two-dimensional field solve and particle push. This is done by calculating the plasma wake assuming that the drive beam and/or laser does not evolve during the time it takes for it to pass a plasma particle. The complete electromagnetic fields of the plasma wake and its associated index of refraction are then used to evolve the drive beam and/or laser using very large time steps. This algorithm reduces the computational time by 2-3 orders of magnitude. Comparison between the new algorithm and conventional fully explicit models (OSTRIS) is presented. The agreement is excellent for problems of interest. Direction for future work is also presented.

Plasma Accelerators at the Energy Frontier and on Tabletops

Charged particles surfing on electron density waves in plasmas can experience enormous accelerating gradients.

Plasma wave wigglers for free-electron lasers

We explore the possibility of using a relativistic plasma density wave as a wiggler for producing free-electron laser radiation. Such a wiggler is a purely electric wiggler with frequency ω p (plasma frequency) and wavenumber k p . If an electron beam is injected parallel to the plasma wave wavefront, it is wiggled transversely with an apparent wiggler wavelength \lambda_{w} = 2\pi c/\omega_{p} . Using plasma densities in the 1017(cm-3) range, λ w of order 100 μm may be obtained, thereby permitting generation of short wavelength radiation with modest energy beams. The effective wiggler strength a_{w} = eA/mc^{2} \sim 0.5 can be extremely large. We discuss the excitation methods for such wigglers and examine the constraints imposed by the plasma medium on FEL gain in this scheme.

Simulation of a 50GeV PWFA Stage

The plasma afterburner has been proposed as a possible advanced acceleration scheme for a future linear collider. In this concept, a high energy electron(or positron) drive beam from an existing linac such as the SLC will propagate in a plasma section of density about one order of magnitude lower than the peak beam density. The particle beam generates a strong plasma wave wakefield which has a phase velocity equal to the velocity of the beam and this wakefield can be used to accelerate part of the drive beam or a trailing beam. Several issues such as the efficient transfer of energy and the stable propagation of the particle beam in the plasma are critical to the afterburner concept. We investigate the nonlinear beam‐plasma interactions in such scenario using a new 3D particle‐in‐cell code called QuickPIC. Preliminary simulation results for electron acceleration, beam‐loading and hosing instability will be presented.

Accelerator physics: Electrons hang ten on laser wake

Electrons can be accelerated by making them surf a laser-driven plasma wave. High acceleration rates, and now the production of well-populated, high-quality beams, signal the potential of this table-top technology.