AWAKE : a proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment at CERN

Bracco, C. and Amorim, L. D. and Assmann, R. and Batsch, F. and Bingham, R. and Burt, G. and Buttenschön, B. and Butterworth, A. and Caldwell, A. and Chattopadhyay, S. and Cipiccia, S. and Deacon, L. C. and Doebert, S. and Dorda, U. and Feldbaumer, E. and Fonseca, R. A. and Fedossev, V. and Goddard, B. and Grebenyuk, J. and Grulke, O. and Gschwendtner, E. and Hansen, J. and Hessler, C. and Hofle, W. and Holloway, J. and Jaroszynski, D. and Jenkins, M. and Jensen, L. and Jolly, S. and Jones, R. and Kasim, M. F. and Lopes, N. and Lotov, K. and Mandry, S. R. and Martyanov, M. and Meddahi, M. and Mete, O. and Minakov, V. and Moody, J. and Muggli, P. and Najmudin, Z. and Norreys, P. A. and Öz, E. and Pardons, A. and Petrenko, A. and Pukhov, A. and Rieger, K. and Reimann, O. and Seryi, A. A. and Shaposhnikova, E. and Sherwood, P. and Silva, L. O. and Sosedkin, A. and Tarkeshian, R. and Trines, R. M G M and Velotti, F. M. and Vieira, J. and Vincke, H. and Welsch, C. and Wing, M. and Xia, G. (2016) AWAKE : a proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment at CERN. Nuclear and Particle Physics Proceedings, 273-275. pp. 175-180. ISSN 2405-6014 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2015.09.022)

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Abstract

The AWAKE Collaboration has been formed in order to demonstrate proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration for the first time. This acceleration technique could lead to future colliders of high energy but of a much reduced length when compared to proposed linear accelerators. The CERN SPS proton beam in the CNGS facility will be injected into a 10 m plasma cell where the long proton bunches will be modulated into significantly shorter micro-bunches. These micro-bunches will then initiate a strong wakefield in the plasma with peak fields above 1 GV/m that will be harnessed to accelerate a bunch of electrons from about 20 MeV to the GeV scale within a few meters. The experimental program is based on detailed numerical simulations of beam and plasma interactions. The main accelerator components, the experimental area and infrastructure required as well as the plasma cell and the diagnostic equipment are discussed in detail. First protons to the experiment are expected at the end of 2016 and this will be followed by an initial three-four years experimental program. The experiment will inform future larger-scale tests of proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration and applications to high energy colliders.

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