Canada's contribution to Advanced Plasma Wake-field Experiment at CERN

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This proposal seeks funding to allow Canada to continue its contribution to the Advanced Wakefield Experiment (AWAKE) collaboration, a plasma wakefield acceleration experiment, driven by the 400 GeV proton beam from the CERN SPS synchrotron, the first of its kind world-wide. As currently existing and planned large scale accelerators come closer to stretching the existing paradigm to the limit both technologically and financially, the next generation of experiments probing ever finer structure of the universe around us must look beyond the horizon for new schemes to produce particle beams with ever greater energy such as particle acceleration by induced wakefield in plasmas. Such schemes hold the promise of producing TeV scale electrons over a distance of meters, thus rendering the next generation high energy physics experiments economically viable. The AWAKE experiment, with test facilities taking shape at CERN, is unique among plasma wakefield acceleration projects in its selection of protons as the driving particles. The collaboration, formed in 2013 as a proof-of-principle experiment, has already produced a wealth of results including acceleration of externally injected electrons to the GeV energy level. The experimental program will resume in 2021 with Run 2 and extends beyond 2028. The findings of Run 2 will allow the AWAKE collaboration to contemplate first applications of the experimental scheme to high-energy physics. As Canada's particle and nuclear physics laboratory, TRIUMF has a manifest interest in keeping abreast of cutting edge developments in pushing the energy frontier. TRIUMF joined the AWAKE collaboration in 2014 and contributed to the success of the experiment with the instrumentation for the electron beam line, characterization of the plasma cell and studies of the new electron source. Beam diagnostics plays an essential role in the AWAKE experiment. For the success of the experiment all three beams of proton, electron and laser, have to be in well-defined and controllable relationships to each other in space and in time. Electron position measurements in the presence of a two order of magnitude stronger signal from protons are extremely difficult. Presently, the work is in progress to develop for this purpose a unique position monitoring system operating in the microwave region. While the monitor itself is designed by the CERN team, the high frequency signal processing electronics is expected to be developed by TRIUMF. As Run 2 proceeds to following stages more TRIUMF involvement is foreseen. In this proposal we request funds to support a graduate student or a postdoc fellow to work on various aspects of the AWAKE beam diagnostics development and travel funds to support the existing equipment, to participate in new installations, experimental runs and collaboration meetings This proposal is accompanied with an RTI application to support construction of the unique microwave beam position monitoring system.