Proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration - a new route to a TeV e+e- collider

质子驱动等离子体尾场加速 - TeV e 电子对撞机的新途径

• 批准号: ST/L000423/1
• 负责人: Peter Norreys
• 金额: $ 9.25万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FL000423%2F1
• 关键词: Proton; driven; plasma; wakefield; acceleration

Over the last fifty years, accelerators of ever increasing energy and size have allowed us to probe the fundamental structure of the physical world. This has culminated in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, a 27-km long accelerator which hopes to discover new particles such as the Higgs Boson or new phenomena such as Supersymmetry. Using current accelerator technology, a next collider such as a linear electron-positron collider would 30-50 km long which would require immense investment. As an alternative, we are pursuing a new ultra-compact technology which would allow a reduction by about a factor of ten in length and hence would reduce the cost by a significant fraction.The idea presented here is to impact a high-energy proton beam, such as those at CERN, into a plasma. The free, negatively-charged electrons in the plasma are knocked out of their position by the protons, but are then attracted back by the positively-charged ions, creating a high-gradient electric "wakefield" and an oscillating motion is started by the plasma electrons. Experiments have already been carried out impacting lasers or an electron beam onto a plasma and accelerating gradients have been observed which are 1000 times higher than conventional accelerators. Given the much higher initial energy of available proton beams, it is anticipated that the electric fields it creates in a plasma could accelerate electrons in the wakefield up to the teraelectron-volts scale required for a future collider, but in a single stage and with a length of a few km. Such a collider is, however, many years in the future and test experiments are first needed.A first proof-of-principle experiment will be performed at CERN over the next 5 years. The experiment will use a high-energy proton beam to impact on a plasma cell of about 10 m and measure the energy change in a bunch of electrons which will travel behind the proton beam. Observing significant energy changes in the electrons would demonstrate the concept of this form of acceleration which has so far only been studied in simulation.The UK has seven groups (ASTeC, Central Laser Facility, Cockcroft Institute, Imperial College, John Adams Institute, Strathclyde and UCL) in the collaboration preparing for this test experiment in CERN. We propose a programme to answer various technical issues and develop a wide-range of instrumentation which will the allow us to successfully build the test experiment. A crucial part is being able to build a plasma cell with a uniform density over lengths much longer than previously tried. We will also design the electron particle source to be fired into the plasma at exactly the right time so as to feel the largest possible accelerating gradient in the wakefield created by the proton beam. To determine the success of the experiment, we will design diagnostic tools which will measure the size of the wakefield and the energy and spatial profile of the electron beam after it has been accelerated in the plasma. Finally, our results will improve simulations of plasma wakefields to give us more confidence in our expectations of a larger-scale experiment and help us best optimise its layout and capabilities.If successful, this experiment will lead to a further larger-scale project to accelerate bunches of electrons of small spatial extent with high particle numbers and ultimately a new form of acceleration which could lead to future, energy-frontier particle physics experiments. This technique has the potential to radically alter the frontier of high energy physics with accelerators as performant as currently planned or required, but at a tenth of the length and hence cost. With the significantly larger acceleration gradients and smaller spatial extent, plasma-based accelerator technology could also lead to vastly smaller synchrotron light sources which probe the structure of e.g. proteins and table-top accelerators of lower energy for use in hospitals or industry.

在过去的50年里，不断增加的能量和尺寸的加速器使我们能够探索物理世界的基本结构。这在日内瓦欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机中达到了顶峰，这是一个27公里长的加速器，希望能发现新的粒子，如希格斯玻色子或新现象，如超对称。使用目前的加速器技术，下一个对撞机，如线性正电子对撞机，将有30-50公里长，这将需要巨大的投资。作为替代方案，我们正在追求一种新的超紧凑技术，这种技术可以将长度减少大约十分之一，从而大大降低成本。这里提出的想法是将高能质子束（比如欧洲核子研究中心的质子束）撞击到等离子体中。等离子体中自由的带负电荷的电子被质子撞出它们的位置，但随后又被带正电荷的离子吸引回来，形成一个高梯度的电“尾流场”，等离子体电子开始振荡运动。已经进行了将激光或电子束撞击等离子体的实验，并观察到比传统加速器高1000倍的加速梯度。鉴于现有质子束的初始能量要高得多，预计它在等离子体中产生的电场可以将尾流场中的电子加速到未来对撞机所需的太电子伏特规模，但这是一个单级的，长度只有几公里。然而，这样的对撞机还需要很多年的时间，首先需要进行测试实验。第一个原理验证实验将在未来5年内在欧洲核子研究中心进行。该实验将使用高能质子束撞击约10米的浆细胞，并测量质子束后面行进的一束电子的能量变化。观察电子中显著的能量变化将证明这种形式的加速度的概念，迄今为止只在模拟中研究过。英国有七个小组（ASTeC、中央激光设施、科克罗夫特研究所、帝国理工学院、约翰亚当斯研究所、斯特拉斯克莱德研究所和伦敦大学学院）正在为欧洲核子研究中心的测试实验做准备。我们提出了一个方案来回答各种技术问题并开发广泛的仪器，这将使我们能够成功地建立测试实验。一个关键的部分是能够建立一个密度均匀的浆细胞，其长度比以前尝试的要长得多。我们还将设计电子粒子源，在正确的时间发射到等离子体中，以便在质子束产生的尾流场中感受到最大可能的加速梯度。为了确定实验是否成功，我们将设计诊断工具来测量尾流场的大小以及电子束在等离子体中加速后的能量和空间分布。最后，我们的结果将改进等离子尾流场的模拟，使我们对更大规模实验的期望更有信心，并帮助我们最好地优化其布局和功能。如果成功，这个实验将导致一个更大规模的项目，加速小空间范围的高粒子数的电子束，并最终形成一种新的加速形式，这可能导致未来的能量前沿粒子物理实验。这项技术有可能从根本上改变高能物理的前沿，使加速器的性能达到目前计划或要求的水平，但长度和成本只有目前的十分之一。基于等离子体的加速器技术具有更大的加速度梯度和更小的空间范围，也可以产生更小的同步加速器光源，用于探测蛋白质等结构，以及用于医院或工业的低能量台式加速器。

项目成果

Proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration: a path to the future of high-energy particle physics

• DOI: 10.1088/0741-3335/56/8/084013
• 发表时间: 2014-01
• 期刊: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: R. Assmann;R. Bingham;R. Bingham;T. Bohl;C. Bracco;B. Buttenschön;A. Butterworth;A. Caldwell;S. Chattopadhyay;S. Cipiccia;S. Cipiccia;E. Feldbaumer;R. Fonseca;R. Fonseca;B. Goddard;M. Gross;O. Grulke;E. Gschwendtner;J. Holloway;J. Holloway;Chengkun Huang;D. Jaroszynski;S. Jolly;P. Kempkes;N. Lopes;N. Lopes;K. Lotov;K. Lotov;J. Machacek;S. Mandry;S. Mandry;J. Mckenzie;M. Meddahi;B. Militsyn;N. Moschuering;P. Muggli;Z. Najmudin;T. Noakes;P. Norreys;P. Norreys;E. Öz;A. Pardons;A. Petrenko;A. Petrenko;A. Pukhov;K. Rieger;O. Reimann;H. Ruhl;E. Shaposhnikova;Luís O. Silva;A. Sosedkin;A. Sosedkin;R. Tarkeshian;R. Trines;T. Tückmantel;J. Vieira;J. Vieira;H. Vincke;M. Wing;G. Xia

Brilliant X-rays using a Two-Stage Plasma Insertion Device.

• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-04124-7
• 发表时间: 2017-06-21
• 期刊: Scientific reports
• 影响因子: 4.6
• 作者: Holloway JA;Norreys PA;Thomas AGR;Bartolini R;Bingham R;Nydell J;Trines RMGM;Walker R;Wing M
• 通讯作者: Wing M

Path to AWAKE: Evolution of the concept

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2015.12.050
• 发表时间: 2016-09-01
• 期刊: NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION A-ACCELERATORS SPECTROMETERS DETECTORS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
• 影响因子: 1.4
• 作者: Caldwell, A.;Adli, E.;Zimmermann, F.
• 通讯作者: Zimmermann, F.