Mar 28 2019
Munich physicists have effectively demonstrated plasma wakefield acceleration of subatomic particles in a scaled down, laser-driven model. The new system offers a wider basis for the creation of the next generation of particle accelerators.
Laser physicists led by Prof. Stefan Karsch at the Centre for Advanced Laser Applications at LMU have brought the research on plasma wakefield acceleration technique a step closer to implementation in university research labs. (©Thorsten Naeser)
The plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA) method is considered as an extremely promising path to the next generation of particle accelerators. In this method, a pulse of high-energy electrons is introduced into a preformed plasma, and develops a wake upon which other electrons can excellently surf. In this manner, their energy can exceed that of the driver by a factor of 2-5. However, a number of physical and technical problems must be fixed before the technology becomes real-world. This is no simple feat, as only large-scale particle accelerators, such as those at CERN, DESY, or SLAC, are presently capable of generating the driver pulses required to produce the wakefield.
A team of researchers led by Professor Stefan Karsch at the Laboratory of Attosecond Physics (LAP)—a joint venture between LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ)—has currently shown that PWFA can be realized in university labs. The new findings will allow more examination of the PWFA concept as a basis for the expansion of compact, next-generation particle accelerators.