Growth and Phase Velocity of Self-Modulated Beam-Driven Plasma Waves

Journal Article · Fri Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.107.145002· OSTI ID:21611802

Schroeder, C B; Benedetti, C; Esarey, E; Leemans, W P ^[1]; Gruener, F J ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
2. Universitaet Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany)

A long, relativistic particle beam propagating in an overdense plasma is subject to the self-modulation instability. This instability is analyzed and the growth rate is calculated, including the phase relation. The phase velocity of the wake is shown to be significantly less than the beam velocity. These results indicate that the energy gain of a plasma accelerator driven by a self-modulated beam will be severely limited by dephasing. In the long-beam, strongly coupled regime, dephasing is reached in a homogeneous plasma in less than four e foldings, independent of beam-plasma parameters.

• OSTI ID: 21611802
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 14; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.145002; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
HOMOGENEOUS PLASMA
PARTICLE BEAMS
PHASE VELOCITY
PLASMA GUNS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA WAVES
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
BEAMS
ENERGY RANGE
INSTABILITY
PLASMA
VELOCITY