Conveners
PS4: Theory and simulations: HEP & staging
- Maxence Thรฉvenet (DESY)
- Stefano Romeo (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
PS4: Theory and simulations: Methods
- Stefano Romeo (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
- Maxence Thรฉvenet (DESY)
PS4: Theory and simulations: Beams & applications
- Maxence Thรฉvenet (DESY)
- Stefano Romeo (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
PS4: Theory and simulations: LPA
- Stefano Romeo (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
- Maxence Thรฉvenet (DESY)
As the next generation of particle colliders stand to require an ever-increasing real-estate footprint, interest is growing in the potential to shrink the accelerator stage by taking advantage of the high accelerating gradients present in plasma-based accelerators.
The unique advantages of plasma accelerators come with unique challenges.
Radio-frequency accelerators offer symmetric...
The staging of laser-driven plasma accelerators (LPAs) could open up energy frontiers, but achieving in- and out-coupling of laser pulses while preserving beam quality remains a challenge. In this work, we present an all-optical, in-plasma staging scheme that uses refraction in a transverse plasma density gradient to couple the incoming laser into the next LPA stage, eliminating the need for...
The AWAKE experiment at CERN is developing a novel concept for high-gradient particle acceleration using plasma wakefields driven by high-energy proton bunches. After the successful completion of Run 2b which aimed to demonstrate the stabilisation of micro-bunches with a density step in the plasma source, the experiment started the preparation of its next phase Run 2c which focuses on...
AWAKE is a plasma wakefield acceleration experiment where the wakefields are driven by a long, highly energetic proton bunch that undergoes the self-modulation instability (SMI). The objectives of Run 2c, due to start in 2029, are to demonstrate emittance control of the accelerated electron bunch. Planning for this next phase is under way and includes the design of specialized experimental...
Traveling-wave electron acceleration (TWEAC) is a next-generation laser-plasma acceleration scheme that bypasses dephasing, pump depletion and diffraction limitations, offering a clear path toward compact accelerators beyond 10 GeV, making it a candidate for future compact accelerators based on existing CPA lasers. TWEAC utilizes two pulse-front tilted laser pulses whose propagation directions...
The Adaptable Beginning-to-End Linac (ABEL) simulation framework offers a comprehensive solution for simulating and optimising plasma-based accelerators and colliders. ABELโs modular, Python-based design unites diverse, specialised codes such as HiPACE++, Wake-T, ELEGANT, GUINEA-PIG, CLICopti and ImpactX under a single framework, enabling seamless transitions when simulating beamlines...
Fully kinetic Particle-In-Cell simulations of laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA) demand heavy computational resources mainly because of the wide range of time and space scales they have to cover: from the short laser cycle to the long plasma target.
The time-averaged ponderomotive approximation (TPA), also called the laser envelope model, is a very efficient way of reducing this disparity...
As plasma accelerators continue to mature, comprehensive simulations of all system components are increasingly essential for interpreting experimental results and designing credible concepts. Capturing the wide range of relevant physical mechanismsโincluding complex 3D effectsโrequires state-of-the-art simulation tools and seamless integration between them. In this contribution, we present a...
Future, high-fidelity simulations of multi-GeV-class Laser Wakefield Accelerators (LWFAs) will need to model the propagation of high-intensity laser drivers over meter-scale plasmas with high spatial and temporal resolutions, thus requiring high amounts of computational resources.
Various techniques have been devised over the years to reduce the computational cost of such simulations,...
A novel method for simulating wakefield acceleration in plasmas is introduced. The newly developed GEM-PIC code is a fully electromagnetic, three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation tool that leverages a Galilean transformation of variables. This transformation effectively eliminates the vast scale disparity between the laser wavelength and the typical acceleration length in...
QuickPIC and QPAD are both parallel PIC codes that applies the quasi-static approximation. They can efficiently simulate both beam driven and laser driven plasma wake field accelerators with a speed that is much faster than the conventional PICs code without losing accuracy. QuickPIC is a 3D code in the Cartesian coordinates while QPAD is a branch of QuickPIC that applies azimuthal...
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a cornerstone in addressing complex optimization challenges across scientific domains. Among AI techniques, Bayesian optimization (BO) has proven particularly effective for navigating high-dimensional and computationally expensive parameter spaces.
Recent studies have demonstrated BO's ability to optimize electron beam properties to achieve small energy...
Microbunching instability (MBI) remains a critical challenge for high-brightness electron beams in linear accelerators, especially for free electron lasers (FEL). We present a comprehensive study of the MBI in the context of EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB, the first FEL user facility driven by plasma acceleration, focusing on both the emergence and the mitigation of MBI under various machine...
We present a theoretical description of the radiative and space-charge intra-bunch interaction of a compact charged bunch undergoing high-field acceleration relevant to LWFA, PWFA conditions. The effects during the process of acceleration are considered specifically, in contrast to previous work that assumes an instantaneous change in energy and examines the post-acceleration interaction with...
High efficiency is essential for plasma-wakefield accelerators to be a cost-effective alternative for high-power applications, such as a linear collider. However, in a plasma-wakefield accelerator the beam-breakup instability can be seeded by a transverse offset between the driver and trailing bunch. This instability, which rapidly increases the oscillation amplitude of the trailing bunch,...
We present a study of a radiation signal in laser-driven plasma wakefield accelerators (LPWFA) employing photo cathode injection. While experimentally observed and significant for timing calibration, its underlying physics remains elusive. Using a synthetic optical imaging plugin for PIConGPU we reproduce this signal in simulations for the first time, linking it to plasma structures and cavity...
We propose and test a multi-step preliminary analytical procedure that tailors the initial density $\widetilde{n_0}$ of a cold diluted collisionless plasma to a very short and intense plane-wave laser pulse travelling in the $z$ direction, so as to maximize the early laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) of bunches of plasma electrons self-injected in the plasma wave (PW) by the first...
Narrow energy spread beams with high spectral density and minimal dark current are critical for a wide range of applications. We report results from both experiments and simulations aimed at optimising these key parameters using laser wakefield accelerators. A fully automated experiment using Bayesian optimisation, controlling only the laser focal position and spectral phase, was used to...
Laser Wakefield Accelerators (LWFA) offer a promising solution for producing high-energy electron beams in compact setups. Beyond obtaining the required energy, the beam quality (emittance, energy spread, intensity) must also be optimized for LWFA to be considered an alternative to conventional accelerators. Achieving precise control of the transverse beam dynamics is one of the key...
The quality of electron beams generated by laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) is constantly improving to the point where it is now possible to operate novel light sources such as free-electron lasers (FELs), as has been achieved at various facilities. However, this method is still limited by the fluctuations of the electron beam properties, which are difficult to control due to the...
The Extreme Photonics Application Centre (EPAC) will house a 1 PW, 10 Hz repetition rate laser: performing laser-plasma experiments for both academic and industrial communities. Accurate modelling of the laser, of the laser-plasma interaction, and of radiation propagation is essential for experiment design in large-scale user facilities, where access to the beam is highly sought after. To...
We present PIConGPU as an enabling simulation tool for recent advances in plasma acceleration. The transition to Exascale capabilities as enabled new opportunities and capabilities to study plasma accelerators at unprecedented resolution and physical detail. We present recent studies on both laser-driven ion acceleration as well as laser- and plasma-driven electron acceleration and potential...
Plasma acceleration is an emerging technology with transformative potential for accelerator and light source facilities, as well as applications in medical and nuclear physics. However, its broader adoption is hindered by the reliance on computationally intensive Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations, which require expert knowledge and multiple simulation tools.
Geant4 [1] is a widely used...
