Ultra-compact plasma photocathode in a hybrid wakefield accelerator
Abstract
Plasma-based particle accelerators, realized by driving plasma waves with either an intense laser pulse or particle beam, offer accelerating fields orders of magnitude higher than conventional accelerators. This enables sources of highly relativistic electron beams with significantly reduced spatial and economic footprints. However, optimizing beam quality and brightness remains the key challenge for demanding applications such as free-electron lasers. The plasma photocathode is a method for generating high-quality beams directly within plasma waves - but hitherto was exclusively realizable using the high-current drive beams from the kilometer-scale conventional accelerator at SLAC. Here we show implementation of a plasma photocathode in a millimeter-scale, purely plasma-based hybrid wakefield accelerator, powered by a 150 TW laser system. Its operation at high plasma densities enables exploitation of micrometer-scale source sizes and rapid acceleration through high-field gradients, which increases the potential output beam quality substantially. This high-density plasma photocathode can be implemented at state-of-the-art laser-plasma accelerators worldwide, and opens the door for high-quality beam production.
Related
- Electron Dynamics in a Wakefield Accelerator Driven by Laser Pulses Carrying Orbital Angular Momentum
- Stable 50 MeV Beams from a 100 Hz Laser-Wakefield Accelerator Driven by an OPCPA Laser
- Beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration
- Wakefield-Dressed Relativistic Vortex Electrons in Plasma Accelerators
- Unveiling the beam-wake interactions in plasma wakefield acceleration
BibTeX
@article{ufer2026ultracompact,
title = {{Ultra-compact plasma photocathode in a hybrid wakefield accelerator}},
author = {Patrick Ufer and Alastair Nutter and Susanne Schoebel and Thomas Heinemann and Brant Bowers and Finn-Ole Carstens and Yen-Yu Chang and Sébastien Corde and Jurjen Pieter Couperus Cabadağ and Alexander Debus and Andreas Döpp and F.Moritz Foerster and Max F Gilljohann and Ahmad Fahim Habib and Stefan Karsch and Alexander Knetsch and Olena Kononenko and Maxwell Laberge and Alberto Martinez de la Ossa and Richard Pausch and Ross Rudzinsky and Andrew Sutherland and Thomas Wilson and Arie Irman and Ulrich Schramm and Bernhard Hidding},
journal = {Commun.Phys.},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1038/s42005-026-02814-1},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05734150v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ultra-compact plasma photocathode in a hybrid wakefield accelerator
AU - Patrick Ufer
AU - Alastair Nutter
AU - Susanne Schoebel
AU - Thomas Heinemann
AU - Brant Bowers
AU - Finn-Ole Carstens
AU - Yen-Yu Chang
AU - Sébastien Corde
AU - Jurjen Pieter Couperus Cabadağ
AU - Alexander Debus
AU - Andreas Döpp
AU - F.Moritz Foerster
AU - Max F Gilljohann
AU - Ahmad Fahim Habib
AU - Stefan Karsch
AU - Alexander Knetsch
AU - Olena Kononenko
AU - Maxwell Laberge
AU - Alberto Martinez de la Ossa
AU - Richard Pausch
AU - Ross Rudzinsky
AU - Andrew Sutherland
AU - Thomas Wilson
AU - Arie Irman
AU - Ulrich Schramm
AU - Bernhard Hidding
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Commun.Phys.
DO - 10.1038/s42005-026-02814-1
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05734150v1
AB - Plasma-based particle accelerators, realized by driving plasma waves with either an intense laser pulse or particle beam, offer accelerating fields orders of magnitude higher than conventional accelerators. This enables sources of highly relativistic electron beams with significantly reduced spatial and economic footprints. However, optimizing beam quality and brightness remains the key challenge for demanding applications such as free-electron lasers. The plasma photocathode is a method for generating high-quality beams directly within plasma waves - but hitherto was exclusively realizable using the high-current drive beams from the kilometer-scale conventional accelerator at SLAC. Here we show implementation of a plasma photocathode in a millimeter-scale, purely plasma-based hybrid wakefield accelerator, powered by a 150 TW laser system. Its operation at high plasma densities enables exploitation of micrometer-scale source sizes and rapid acceleration through high-field gradients, which increases the potential output beam quality substantially. This high-density plasma photocathode can be implemented at state-of-the-art laser-plasma accelerators worldwide, and opens the door for high-quality beam production.
ER -