Accelerators

Laser-driven plasma accelerators represent a promising technology that could replace current radio-frequency accelerators. Moreover, thanks to their strong electric field ( of the order of 100 GV/m), which is at least a thousand times stronger than that available in today's accelerators, they can be built in a very compact form. It had been experimentally demonstrated that their parameters (energy dissipation, emittance and beam length) correspond to classical accelerators, however, these parameters have only been experimentally achieved individually, not all at once as would be required for normal accelerator operation. Another unsolved problem is the so-called phasing of acceleration, where a series of several acceleration stages are required to achieve very high beam energies. Experimentally, two-stage acceleration has been demonstrated, but at the cost of losing almost 80% of the particles. This project seeks to contribute to bridging these technological difficulties, e.g. by developing special plasma lenses that compensate for the geometric dispersion of the beam, which should result in almost no particle loss from the beam, developing a femtosecond electron injector, etc. Students with this specialization will be involved in the research and development of these specific parts of plasma accelerators and advanced diagnostics of femtosecond electron beams.

A group of scientists and students in the Physics Department of FJFI are involved in the research and development of compact laser-driven accelerators, which are being considered as promising candidates to replace current radio-frequency accelerators. The group thematically covers several currently progressive areas of plasma accelerators, ranging from numerical simulations, ultrashort beam generation and diagnostics development to the technical aspects of the accelerators themselves. For example, we are designing plasma lenses that compensate for the geometric dispersion of the electron beam, so that after passing through them the beam retains its length on the order of femtoseconds. We are studying femtosecond beam transport using conventional quadrupole lenses. We are also developing an N-frame interferometer that uses nonlinearly generated white light, the so-called supercontinuum. Last but not least, we are studying the injection of an electron beam into a plasma wave, using particle-in-cell simulations, to find the optimal conditions for accelerating beams with very high charge and to determine its physical limits.

Staff