Effect of plasma inhomogeneity on plasma wakefield acceleration driven by long bunches

Journal Article · Tue Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4773905· OSTI ID:22113371

Lotov, K. V. ^[1]; Pukhov, A. ^[2]; Caldwell, A. ^[3]

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1. Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia and Novosibirsk State University, 630090 Novosibirsk (Russian Federation)
2. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik I, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf (Germany)
3. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, 80805 Muenchen (Germany)

Effects of plasma inhomogeneity on self-modulating proton bunches and accelerated electrons were studied numerically. The main effect is the change of the wakefield wavelength which results in phase shifts and loss of accelerated particles. This effect imposes severe constraints on density uniformity in plasma wakefield accelerators driven by long particle bunches. The transverse two stream instability that transforms the long bunch into a train of micro-bunches is less sensitive to density inhomogeneity than are the accelerated particles. The bunch freely passes through increased density regions and interacts with reduced density regions.

• OSTI ID: 22113371
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATION
BEAM BUNCHING
ELECTRONS
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PHASE SHIFT
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA WAVES
PROTONS
TWO-STREAM INSTABILITY
WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS
WAVELENGTHS