High average gradient in a laser-gated multistage plasma wakefield accelerator

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to optimize inter-plasma distances in staged beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerators using drive-beam coupling and femtosecond laser gating, potentially advancing compact high-gradient accelerators.

Contribution

It introduces a new concept combining drive-beam coupling and laser gating to improve staged plasma accelerator design.

Findings

Enhanced control of inter-plasma spacing.

Potential for more compact accelerator designs.

Improved synchronization of plasma stages.

Abstract

Plasma wakefield accelerators driven by particle beams are capable of providing accelerating gradient several orders of magnitude higher than currently used radio-frequency technology, which could reduce the length of particle accelerators, with drastic influence on the development of future colliders at TeV energies and the minimization of x-ray free-electron lasers. Since inter-plasma components and distances are among the biggest contributors to the total accelerator length, the design of staged plasma accelerators is one of the most important outstanding questions in order to render this technology instrumental. Here, we present a novel concept to optimize inter-plasma distances in a staged beam-driven plasma accelerator by drive-beam coupling in the temporal domain and gating the accelerator via a femtosecond ionization laser.