Developments in laser-driven plasma accelerators

Abstract

Laser-driven plasma accelerators provide acceleration gradients three orders of magnitude greater than conventional machines, offering the potential to shrink the length of accelerators by the same factor. To date, laser-acceleration of electron beams to particle energies comparable to those offered by synchrotron light sources has been demonstrated with plasma acceleration stages only a few centimetres long. This article describes the principles of operation of laser-driven plasma accelerators, and reviews their development from their proposal in 1979 to recent demonstrations. The potential applications of plasma accelerators are described and the challenges which must be overcome before they can become a practical tool are discussed.

References in corpus (2)

• Single shot phase contrast imaging using laser-produced Betatron x-ray beams
• Control of laser wake field acceleration by plasma density profile

Cited by in corpus (5)

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• Plasma wakefield excitation by incoherent laser pulses: a path towards high-average power laser-plasma accelerators
• Laser undulator by laser ponderomotive force