TeV/m Nano-Accelerator: Current Status of CNT-Channeling Acceleration Experiment

TL;DR

This paper reviews the current status of CNT-based crystal channeling acceleration, exploring its potential for ultrahigh gradient particle acceleration and discussing feasible experiments at Fermilab's ASTA.

Contribution

It introduces a beam-driven CNT channeling acceleration concept and discusses experimental feasibility at Fermilab's ASTA facility.

Findings

CNTs offer promising physical strength for channeling acceleration.

High-gradient acceleration may require ultrashort, disposable crystal structures.

Feasible experiments are proposed for Fermilab's ASTA.

Abstract

Crystal channeling technology has offered various opportunities in the accelerator community with a viability of ultrahigh gradient (TV/m) acceleration for future HEP collider. The major challenge of channeling acceleration is that ultimate acceleration gradients might require a high power driver in the hard x-ray regime (~ 40 keV). This x-ray energy exceeds those for x-rays as of today, although x-ray lasers can efficiently excite solid plasma and accelerate particles inside a crystal channel. Moreover, only disposable crystal accelerators are possible at such high externally excited fields which would exceed the ionization thresholds destroying the atomic structure, so acceleration will take place only in a short time before full dissociation of the lattice. Carbon-based nanostructures have great potential with a wide range of flexibility and superior physical strength, which can be applied to channeling acceleration. This paper presents a beam-driven channeling acceleration concept with CNTs and discusses feasible experiments with the Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator (ASTA) in Fermilab.