Intrinsic Stabilization of the Drive Beam in Plasma Wakefield Accelerators

TL;DR

This paper introduces an intrinsic stabilization method for the drive beam in plasma wakefield accelerators, leveraging transverse beam size to suppress hose instability and enable stable acceleration.

Contribution

It presents a novel stabilization principle based on beam size and wake focusing variation, improving stability without external control methods.

Findings

Drive beams with size comparable to plasma blowout radius suppress hose instability.

The stabilization mechanism is intrinsic and effective for stable acceleration.

The method enhances the operational stability of plasma wakefield accelerators.

Abstract

The hose instability of the drive beam constitutes a major challenge for the stable operation of plasma wakefield accelerators (PWFAs). In this work, we show that drive beams with a transverse size comparable to the plasma blowout radius generate a wake with a varying focusing along the beam, which leads to a rapid detuning of the slice-betatron oscillations and suppresses the instability. This intrinsic stabilization principle provides an applicable and effective method for the suppression of the hosing of the drive beam and allows for a stable acceleration process.