Plasma-wakefield accelerator simultaneously boosts electron beam energy and brightness

Chaojie Zhang (), Douglas Storey, Alexander Knetsch, Brendan D. O’Shea, Robert Ariniello, Gevy J. Cao, Sébastien Corde, Thamine N. Dalichaouch, Claudio Emma, Ole G. Finnerud, Spencer Gessner, Claire Hansel, Elias Hansen, Valentina Lee, Carl A. Lindstrøm, Michael Litos, Nathan Majernik, Kenneth A. Marsh, Warren B. Mori, Ivan Rajkovic, Mark J. Hogan and Chan Joshi ()
Additional contact information
Chaojie Zhang: University of California, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Douglas Storey: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Alexander Knetsch: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Brendan D. O’Shea: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Robert Ariniello: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Gevy J. Cao: University of Oslo, Department of Physics
Sébastien Corde: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Thamine N. Dalichaouch: University of California, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Claudio Emma: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Ole G. Finnerud: University of Oslo, Department of Physics
Spencer Gessner: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Claire Hansel: Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Center for Integrated Plasma Studies
Elias Hansen: University of California, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Valentina Lee: Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Center for Integrated Plasma Studies
Carl A. Lindstrøm: University of Oslo, Department of Physics
Michael Litos: Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Center for Integrated Plasma Studies
Nathan Majernik: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Kenneth A. Marsh: University of California, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Warren B. Mori: University of California, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Ivan Rajkovic: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Mark J. Hogan: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Chan Joshi: University of California, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract High-energy particle colliders and X-ray free-electron lasers demand electron beams with qualities currently achieved only in kilometer-scale radio-frequency accelerators. Plasma accelerators promise a compact alternative but have faced challenges in delivering the needed beam quality at relevant energies. Here, we demonstrate that a plasma-wakefield accelerator operating in the nonlinear regime acts as a transformer to simultaneously boost the energy and brightness of an electron bunch injected from the plasma. Using a 10-GeV drive bunch and a three-stage meter-scale plasma source, we generated electron bunches exceeding 20 GeV with sub-percent energy spread, 2 mm·mrad normalized emittance, and multi-kA peak current. A significant number of drive-bunch electrons lost over 90% of their energy, a prerequisite for high energy-conversion efficiency. This demonstration of an energy transformer ratio exceeding two and a brightness enhancement over an order of magnitude opens a path towards cost-effective accelerators for future colliders and light sources.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65742-8 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-65742-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65742-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().