No Arabic abstract
Plasma-based electron and positron wakefield acceleration has made great strides in the past decade. However one major challenge for its applications to coherent light sources and colliders is the relatively large energy spread of the accelerated beams, currently at a few percent level. This energy spread is usually correlated with particle position in the beam arising from the longitudinal chirp of the wakefield amplitude. Therefore a dechirper is highly desirable for reducing this spread down to $sim0.1%$ level, while at the same time for maintaining the emittance of the accelerated beam. Here we propose that a low-density hollow channel plasma can act as a near-ideal dechirper for both electrons and positrons. We demonstrate the concept through large-scale three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We show that the initial positive correlated energy spread (chirp) on the beam exiting a plasma accelerator can be compensated by the nearly linear self-wake induced by the beam in the hollow channel from few percent level down to $leq 0.1%$. Meanwhile, the beam emittance can be preserved due to the negligible transverse field inside the channel. This passive method may significantly improve the beam quality of plasma-based accelerators, paving the way for their applications to future compact free electron lasers and colliders.
The paper presents the results of numerical PIC-simulation of positron bunch focusing when acceleration in a plasma dielectric wakefield accelerator. The wakefield was excited by drive electron bunch in quartz dielectric tube, embedded in cylindrical metal waveguide. The internal area of dielectric tube has been filled with radially homogeneous plasma having in general case the vacuum channel along waveguide axis. Results of numerical PIC simulation have shown that it is possible a simultaneous acceleration and focusing of test positron bunch in the wakefield. The dependence of transport and acceleration of positron bunch on size of vacuum channel and waveguide length is studied.
Plasma wakefield acceleration in the blowout regime is particularly promising for high-energy acceleration of electron beams because of its potential to simultaneously provide large acceleration gradients and high energy transfer efficiency while maintaining excellent beam quality. However, no equivalent regime for positron acceleration in plasma wakes has been discovered to-date. We show that after a short propagation distance, an asymmetric electron beam drives a stable wakefield in a hollow plasma channel that can be both accelerating and focusing for a positron beam. A high charge positron bunch placed at a suitable distance behind the drive bunch can beam-load or flatten the longitudinal wakefield and enhance the transverse focusing force, leading to high-efficiency and narrow energy spread acceleration of the positrons. Three-dimensional quasi-static particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations show that over 30% energy extraction efficiency from the wake to the positrons and 1% level energy spread can be simultaneously obtained, and further optimization is feasible.
Plasma-based accelerators have made impressive progress in recent years. However, the beam energy spread obtained in these accelerators is still at ~ 1 % level, nearly one order of magnitude larger than what is needed for challenging applications like coherent light sources or colliders. In plasma accelerators, the beam energy spread is mainly dominated by its energy chirp (longitudinally correlated energy spread). Here we demonstrate that when an initially chirped electron beam from a linac with a proper current profile is sent through a low-density plasma structure, the self wake of the beam can significantly reduce its energy chirp and the overall energy spread. The resolution-limited energy spectrum measurements show at least a threefold reduction of the beam energy spread from 1.28 % to 0.41 % FWHM with a dechirping strength of ~ 1 (MV/m)/(mm pC). Refined time-resolved phase space measurements, combined with high-fidelity three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, further indicate the real energy spread after the dechirper is only about 0.13 % (FWHM), a factor of 10 reduction of the initial energy spread.
Hollow plasma channels are attractive for lepton acceleration because they provide intrinsic emittance preservation regimes. However, beam breakup instabilities dominate the dynamics. Here, we show that thin, warm hollow channels can sustain large-amplitude plasma waves ready for high-quality positron acceleration. We verify that the combination of warm electrons and thin hollow channel enables positron focusing structures. Such focusing wakefields unlock beam breakup damping mechanisms. We demonstrate that such channels emerge self-consistently during the long-term plasma dynamics in the blowouts regime aftermath, allowing for experimental demonstration.
A tunable plasma-based energy dechirper has been developed at FLASHForward to remove the correlated energy spread of a 681~MeV electron bunch. Through the interaction of the bunch with wakefields excited in plasma the projected energy spread was reduced from a FWHM of 1.31$%$ to 0.33$%$ without reducing the stability of the incoming beam. The experimental results for variable plasma density are in good agreement with analytic predictions and three-dimensional simulations. The proof-of-principle dechirping strength of $1.8$~GeV/mm/m significantly exceeds those demonstrated for competing state-of-the-art techniques and may be key to future plasma wakefield-based free-electron lasers and high energy physics facilities, where large intrinsic chirps need to be removed.