Speaker
Prof.
Patric Muggli
(Max-Planck-Institut für Physik)
Description
Short, high-energy proton (p+) bunches can drive GV/m accelerating fields over long distances (>>10m) in low-density plasmas (1e15-1e15/cc) . Long p+ bunches subject to the self-modulation instability (SMI) form a train of micro-bunches that can resonantly drive accelerating fields of comparable amplitude over similar distances. The AWAKE experiment proposed at CERN aims to study the development of the SMI of p+ bunches in plasmas and to test the acceleration of externally injected electrons. AWAKE will use the ~12cm-long bunches of the SPS in the CERN CNGS facility. The SMI will be seeded using a laser pulse ionization front co-propagating within the p+ bunch. Numerical simulations show that seeding drives the SMI to saturation in ~4m of plasma and determine the final phase of the wakefields. Low energy electrons can either be injected from the side in a long, continuous plasma source, or on axis with two plasma sources. They are accelerated to a few GeVs in the remaining ~6m of plasma. The AWAKE current experimental plan and goals will be presented. Other SMI experiments at Brookhaven and SLAC relevant to AWAKE will also be briefly mentioned.
Primary author
Prof.
Patric Muggli
(Max-Planck-Institut für Physik)
