Speaker
Description
Plasma-based accelerators achieve accelerating fields of 10-100 GV/m. While plasma wakefields naturally accelerate electrons due to their near-light-speed motion [1,2], heavier particles like muons [3] and pions, with lifetimes from microseconds to nanoseconds, struggle to be trapped due to velocity mismatch with the wake.
We use spatio-temporal spectral shaping [4,5,6] to control the group velocity of drive pulses, generating subluminal wakes suitable for slower particles. PIC simulations with OSIRIS [7] show non-relativistic particles accelerating to relativistic speeds. By tailoring the plasma density profile, we can extend the dephasing length, which sustains the acceleration process.
This method enables plasma-based acceleration of unstable particles, with applications in cooled muon injection and enhanced muon yield via pion acceleration and decay.
[1] T. Tajima and J. M. Dawson, Physical Review Letters 43, 267 (1979).
[2] C. Joshi, Physics Today 56 (6), 47 (1993).
[3] K.R. Long, et al., Nature Physics 17, 289–292 (2021).
[4] A. Sainte-Marie et al., Optica 4, 1298-1304 (2017).
[5] Froula, D.H., Turnbull, D., Davies, A.S. et al., Nature Photonics 12, 262–265 (2018).
[6] H. Kondakci, Y. F. Abouraddy, Nature Communications 10, 929 (2019).
[7] R.A. Fonseca et al., Phys. Plasmas Control. Fusion 55, 124011 (2013).
