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1. Optimization of transformer ratio and beam loading in a plasma wakefield accelerator with a structure-exploiting algorithm

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0142940  

   Su, Q.; Larson, J.; Dalichaouch, T. N.; Li, F.; An, W.; Hildebrand, L.; Zhao, Y.; Decyk, V.; Alves, P.; Wild, S. M.; et al (May 2023, Physics of Plasmas)

   Plasma-based acceleration has emerged as a promising candidate as an accelerator technology for a future linear collider or a next-generation light source. We consider the plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA) concept where a plasma wave wake is excited by a particle beam and a trailing beam surfs on the wake. For a linear collider, the energy transfer efficiency from the drive beam to the wake and from the wake to the trailing beam must be large, while the emittance and energy spread of the trailing bunch must be preserved. One way to simultaneously achieve this when accelerating electrons is to use longitudinally shaped bunches and nonlinear wakes. In the linear regime, there is an analytical formalism to obtain the optimal shapes. In the nonlinear regime, however, the optimal shape of the driver to maximize the energy transfer efficiency cannot be precisely obtained because currently no theory describes the wake structure and excitation process for all degrees of nonlinearity. In addition, the ion channel radius is not well defined at the front of the wake where the plasma electrons are not fully blown out by the drive beam. We present results using a novel optimization method to effectively determine a current profile for the drive and trailing beam in PWFA that provides low energy spread, low emittance, and high acceleration efficiency. We parameterize the longitudinal beam current profile as a piecewise-linear function and define optimization objectives. For the trailing beam, the algorithm converges quickly to a nearly inverse trapezoidal trailing beam current profile similar to that predicted by the ultrarelativistic limit of the nonlinear wakefield theory. For the drive beam, the beam profile found by the optimization in the nonlinear regime that maximizes the transformer ratio also resembles that predicted by linear theory. The current profiles found from the optimization method provide higher transformer ratios compared with the linear ramp predicted by the relativistic limit of the nonlinear theory. 

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2. Narrow bandwidth, low-emittance positron beams from a laser-wakefield accelerator

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-56281-1  

   Streeter, M. J. V.; Colgan, C.; Carderelli, J.; Ma, Y.; Cavanagh, N.; Los, E. E.; Ahmed, H.; Antoine, A. F.; Audet, T.; Balcazar, M. D.; et al (March 2024, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract The rapid progress that plasma wakefield accelerators are experiencing is now posing the question as to whether they could be included in the design of the next generation of high-energy electron-positron colliders. However, the typical structure of the accelerating wakefields presents challenging complications for positron acceleration. Despite seminal proof-of-principle experiments and theoretical proposals, experimental research in plasma-based acceleration of positrons is currently limited by the scarcity of positron beams suitable to seed a plasma accelerator. Here, we report on the first experimental demonstration of a laser-driven source of ultra-relativistic positrons with sufficient spectral and spatial quality to be injected in a plasma accelerator. Our results indicate, in agreement with numerical simulations, selection and transport of positron beamlets containing$$N_{e+}\ge 10^5$$ $N_{e+}\ge {10}^5$positrons in a 5% bandwidth around 600 MeV, with femtosecond-scale duration and micron-scale normalised emittance. Particle-in-cell simulations show that positron beams of this kind can be guided and accelerated in a laser-driven plasma accelerator, with favourable scalings to further increase overall charge and energy using PW-scale lasers. The results presented here demonstrate the possibility of performing experimental studies of positron acceleration in a laser-driven wakefield accelerator. 

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3. Analytical Scaling Laws for Radiofrequency-Based Pulse Compression in Ultrafast Electron Diffraction Beamlines

   https://doi.org/10.3390/instruments7040049  

   Denham, Paul; Musumeci, Pietro (December 2023, Instruments)

   We present an envelope equation-based approach to obtain analytical scaling laws for the shortest pulse length achievable using radiofrequency (RF)-based bunch compression. The derived formulas elucidate the dependencies on the electron beam energy and beam charge and reveal how relativistic energies are strongly desirable to obtain bunches containing 1 million electrons with single-digit femtosecond pulse lengths. However, the non-linearities associated with the RF curvature and the beam propagation in drift spaces significantly limit the attainability of extreme compression ratios. Therefore, an additional higher frequency RF cavity is implemented, which linearizes the bunch compression, enabling the generation of ultrashort beams in the sub-femtosecond regime. 

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4. Automated emittance and energy gain optimization for plasma wakefield acceleration

   https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-IPAC2024-MOPR57  

   Stobbe, Mason; Knetsch, Alexander; Holtzapple, Robert; Storey, Douglas (January 2024, JACoW Publishing)

   Pilat, Fulvia; Fischer, Wolfram; Saethre, Robert; Anisimov, Petr; Andrian, Ivan (Ed.)

   At the Facility for Advanced Accelerator Experimental Tests (FACET-II) accelerator, a pair of 10 GeV high-current electron beams is used to investigate Plasma Wakefield Acceleration (PWFA) in plasmas of different lengths. While PWFA has achieved astonishingly high accelerating gradients of tens of GeV/m, matching the electron beam into the plasma wake is necessary to achieve a beam quality required for precise tuning of future high energy linear accelerators. The purpose of this study was to explore how start-to-end simulations could be used to optimize two important measures of beam quality, namely maximizing energy gain and minimizing transverse emittance growth in a 2 cm long plasma. These two beam parameters were investigated with an in-depth model of the FACET-II accelerator using numerical optimization. The results presented in the paper demonstrate the importance of utilizing beam-transport simulations in tandem with particle-in-cell simulations and provide insight into optimizing these two important beam parameters without the need to devote significant accelerator physics time tuning the FACET-II accelerator. 

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5. Dephasingless laser wakefield acceleration in the bubble regime

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-48249-4  

   Miller, Kyle G.; Pierce, Jacob R.; Ambat, Manfred V.; Shaw, Jessica L.; Weichman, Kale; Mori, Warren B.; Froula, Dustin H.; Palastro, John P. (December 2023, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract Laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) have electric fields that are orders of magnitude larger than those of conventional accelerators, promising an attractive, small-scale alternative for next-generation light sources and lepton colliders. The maximum energy gain in a single-stage LWFA is limited by dephasing, which occurs when the trapped particles outrun the accelerating phase of the wakefield. Here, we demonstrate that a single space–time structured laser pulse can be used for ionization injection and electron acceleration over many dephasing lengths in the bubble regime. Simulations of a dephasingless laser wakefield accelerator driven by a 6.2-J laser pulse show 25 pC of injected charge accelerated over 20 dephasing lengths (1.3 cm) to a maximum energy of 2.1 GeV. The space–time structured laser pulse features an ultrashort, programmable-trajectory focus. Accelerating the focus, reducing the focused spot-size variation, and mitigating unwanted self-focusing stabilize the electron acceleration, which improves beam quality and leads to projected energy gains of 125 GeV in a single, sub-meter stage driven by a 500-J pulse. 

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