Speaker
Description
Producing electron beams with sub-femtosecond durations and ultra-high peak currents would enable new opportunities in applications ranging from strong field quantum electrodynamics and laboratory astrophysics to next-generation light sources. However, compressing electron beams to such short durations without compromising quality requires new techniques. In this talk, we explore a plasma-based compressor that utilizes the large acceleration gradients present in a plasma wakefield accelerator to imprint onto the beam an energy chirp several orders of magnitude larger than what can be achieved using conventional techniques. A downstream dispersive element converts this chirp into temporal compression. Using particle-in-cell and particle tracking simulations, we show that this technique enables bunch durations approaching 10 nm and peak currents nearing 1 MA. We then present experimental results demonstrating the chirping and compression of 10 GeV electron bunches in a beam-driven wakefield accelerator at the FACET-II facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. These initial experimental results, supported by simulations, highlight the potential of plasma-based compression for generating the ultrashort, high-peak-current beams required for the next generation of accelerator-driven science.
| Working group | WG5 |
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