Speaker
Description
We have experimentally demonstrated plasma-based electron acceleration using laser-generated plasma filament as acceleration stage. In our experiments, we retrieve an energy gain of approximately 8 MeV (corresponding accelerating gradient 260 MV/m) in a 3-cm long plasma stage, together with a significantly enhanced stability of the acceleration process.
The work builds on a complete experimental and theoretical characterization of plasma filaments generated by low-energy (10 mJ), self-guided femtosecond laser pulses in low-pressure nitrogen, as published on Phys. Rev E [1]. Crucially, this approach allows us to propose plasma filaments as a tunable, high repetition-rate, low-energy dissipation plasma acceleration stage, with potential scalability of the interaction length to the meter scale. These features make filament-based stages particularly attractive for future light sources facilities based on plasma accelerators, as EuPRAXIA and EuPRAXIA-related systems.
We believe this work could be of broad interest because it introduces, for the first time, a beam-driven plasma acceleration stage based on the nonlinear self-guided propagation of an ultrashort laser pulse, rather than externally confined or preformed plasma structures. Beyond particle acceleration, this concept naturally connects to several topical areas, including nonlinear light–matter interaction, laser filamentation physics, compact accelerator technologies, and advanced plasma photonics. Moreover, the intrinsic tunability of the plasma stage length, together with high repetition-rate operation and low laser energy dissipation, makes this approach particularly well suited for the realization of plasma-based FEL user facilities, where stability, efficiency, and average flux are key requirements.
[1] M.Galletti et al, Femtosecond laser-induced plasma filaments for beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration, Phys. Rev. E 111, 025202 (2025) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.111.025202
| Working group | WG3 |
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