High Fidelity Modeling of Laser-Plasma Accelerators

该项目的目标是推动紧凑型、下一代光源和其他基于激光的加速器的发展。激光等离子体加速是新一代紧凑型粒子和辐射源的关键使能技术，但目前对此类加速器中电子束形成过程的理论理解还不完全。进一步的进展需要开发具有高物理保真度的计算工具，这是该项目的预期结果。该项目将通过提供作为先进加速器技术基础的基本物理培训，帮助各级劳动力发展。预计这项研究将主要通过基于等离子体物理的加速器技术的进步，造福于整个社会。从这个项目中获得的知识将有助于实现各种激光-等离子体加速器的技术承诺，这些加速器具有从高能物理、天体物理和核科学到医学、生物和化学的广泛应用。该项目将导致开发适合于理解大类激光-等离子体加速器中电子束形成和演化物理的改进的数值模型。这包括开发一种新的二维欧拉Vlasov-Maxwell模拟代码。比较新的Vlasov-Maxwell解算器的结果和各种粒子方法的预测将被用来确定粒子方法的有效性区域，并确定激光-等离子体加速器中涉及电子束形成的关键物理过程和暗电流的来源。该项目将专注于研究气泡(或吹灭)区域中的电子束形成。这项研究的结果还将为开发适合于设计近期实验和未来设施的高保真三维计算工具提供参考。

The goal of this project is to advance the development of compact, next-generation light sources and other laser-based accelerators. Laser-plasma acceleration is a key enabling technology for a new generation of compact particle and radiation sources, but the existing theoretical understanding of the processes governing electron beam formation in such accelerators is incomplete. Further advances require development of computational tools with high physical fidelity, which is the expected outcome of this project. The project will aid in workforce development at all levels by providing training in the basic physics underlying advanced accelerator technologies. The research is expected to benefit society as a whole primarily through advancement of accelerator technologies based on plasma physics. Knowledge gained in this project will aid the effort to realize the technological promise of various laser-plasma accelerators with a wide range of applications from high-energy physics, astrophysics, and nuclear science to medicine, biology, and chemistry.This project will result in the development of improved numerical models suitable for understanding the physics of electron beam formation and evolution in a large class of laser-plasma accelerators. This includes the development of a new two-dimensional Eulerian Vlasov-Maxwell simulation code. Comparisons of results from the new Vlasov-Maxwell solver and predictions of various particle methods will be used to identify regions of validity of the particle methods and to determine the key physical processes involved in electron beam formation and the origins of dark current in laser-plasma accelerators. The project will focus on studying electron beam formation in the bubble (or blow-out) regime. The results of this study will also inform the development of high-fidelity three-dimensional computational tools suitable for designing both near-term experiments and future facilities.