Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: High-energy particle colliders and X-ray free-electron lasers demand electron beams with qualities currently achieved only in kilometer-scale radio-frequency accelerators. Plasma accelerators promise a compact alternative but have faced challenges in delivering the needed beam quality at relevant energies. Here, we demonstrate that a plasma-wakefield accelerator operating in the nonlinear regime acts as a transformer to simultaneously boost the energy and brightness of an electron bunch injected from the plasma. Using a 10-GeV drive bunch and a three-stage meter-scale plasma source, we generated electron bunches exceeding 20 GeV with sub-percent energy spread, 2 mm·mrad normalized emittance, and multi-kA peak current. A significant number of drive-bunch electrons lost over 90% of their energy, a prerequisite for high energy-conversion efficiency. This demonstration of an energy transformer ratio exceeding two and a brightness enhancement over an order of magnitude opens a path towards cost-effective accelerators for future colliders and light sources.
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Chaojie Zhang, Douglas Storey, Alexander Knetsch, Brendan D. O’Shea, Robert Ariniello, Gevy J. Cao, Sébastien Corde, Thamine N. Dalichaouch, Claudio Emma, Ole G. Finnerud, Spencer Gessner, Claire Hansel, Elias Hansen, Valentina Lee, Carl A. Lindstrøm, Michael Litos, Nathan Majernik, Kenneth A. Marsh, Warren B. Mori, Ivan Rajkovic, Mark J. Hogan, Chan Joshi
Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, University of Oslo, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, École Polytechnique, École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées, Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, University of Colorado Boulder
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Awards: G1143651532, G122673668, G1229526393, G2270769101, G2371548206, EXPERIMENTAL, THEORETICAL, AND COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES OF PLASMA-BASED CONCEPTS FOR FUTURE HIGH ENERGY ACCELERATORS, G303061748, G3884951186, G419881185, G42916606, G4775162344, G495301720, G498139845, G5570207115, PLASMA SOURCE DEVELOPMENT FOR BEAM EMITTANCE PRESERVATION IN A PLASMA WAKEFIELD ACCELERATOR, Uncovering Relativistic Instabilities in Plasmas, EXPERIMENTAL, THEORETICAL, AND COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES OF PLASMA-BASED CONCEPTS FOR FUTURE HIGH ENERGY ACCELERATORS, G8382000481, G969889393
OpenAlex ID: W4416793388