Advanced Accelerator
Research
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Since
1985, STI has been actively involved with advanced accelerator research and
development (AARD) sponsored by the U.S. Department
of Energy. The research has focused on
a technique called laser acceleration, where intense laser fields are
used to generate extremely high acceleration gradients. These can then either directly or
indirectly accelerate electrons to very high energies. Laser acceleration gradients of over 1
GeV/m (1 billion electron volts per meter) are now routinely achieved in
laboratories around the world. Laser
acceleration offers the potential for realizing much more compact and less
expensive accelerators, which are capable of reaching energies much higher
than possible using conventional microwaves. STI conducted the Staged Electron Laser Acceleration
(STELLA) experiment where we demonstrated a number of accomplishments: 1) The highest energy gain at the time in
an inverse Cerenkov accelerator, 2) the creation of few femtosecond-long
electron bunches (microbunches) from a laser accelerator device, 3) the first demonstration of staging
between two laser-driven accelerator devices, 4) the first demonstration of high
trapping efficiency of laser-generated microbunches, and 5) the first demonstration of narrow energy
spread (monoenergetic) of the laser-accelerated microbunches. Many of these accomplishments are critical
for eventually developing practical laser-driven electron accelerators (laser
linac). Selected published papers on
our AARD work can be found in AARD Reprints. In support of various AARD efforts for ourselves and others, STI has designed and built specialized hardware including magnetic devices (e.g., chicanes and short undulators), gas-filled capillary discharges, and supersonic nozzles. The latter two devices are useful for plasma-based AARD experiments. Photos of some of these devices are shown on the right. For
more information about STI's involvement in AARD, please contact Dr. Wayne D. Kimura (see Contacting Us). |
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