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Plasma physics

Compact coupling for a two-stage accelerator

Nature volume 530, pages 165–166 (2016)Cite this article

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Injecting electrons that have been accelerated by a laser-powered plasma wave into a second plasma wave represents a two-step electron accelerator. With 100 such steps, collider applications become possible. See Letter p.190

Laser-plasma acceleration is a means of accelerating electrons in a plasma — a fluid of positively and negatively charged particles — using electric fields that are 1,000 times stronger than those of conventional particle accelerators operating in a vacuum. However, despite major advances in the past few years, reliable laser-plasma accelerators have still not been built. On page 190 of this issue, Steinke et al.1 describe a way in which the coupling of electron beams can be controlled with plasmas. The authors' achievement could lead to the development of laser-driven electron accelerators that can be scaled up to achieve energy gains on a par with those of today's particle accelerators. Such electron accelerators would fit on a tabletop, and could replace conventional machines at medical facilities, for instance.

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Figure 1: Structure of a plasma wave.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brigitte Cros is at the Laboratoire de Physique des Gaz et des Plasmas, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France.,

    Brigitte Cros

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  1. Brigitte Cros
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Correspondence to Brigitte Cros.

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Cros, B. Compact coupling for a two-stage accelerator. Nature 530, 165–166 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/530165a

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