Project Details
Projekt
Hybrid Laser-Plasma-Electron-Beamline
Subject Area
Condensed Matter Physics
Term
Funded in 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 540266836
A Hybrid Laser-Plasma-Electron-Beamline shall be installed at the high-power laser-plasma laboratory ARCTURUS at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. This beamline will enable R&D towards production of high-energy, highest brightness electron beams, as well as their utilization, e.g. in generating X-rays. In laser-plasma accelerators, high-intensity laser pulses drive plasma waves that can generate electric fields with strengths of up to hundreds of gigaelectronvolts per meter. These allow the generation of high-energy particle beams over very short distances, making them an alternative to conventional accelerators, and are particularly interesting for university research environments. Laser-plasma acceleration is a growing field, and there is a great demand for beam time for research and development, as well as applications, as well as for education and training in this field overall. An example of visible evidence of this growth field is the European EuPRAXIA project, which was recently included in the ESFRI roadmap. The Hybrid Laser-Plasma Electron Beamline is based on specific techniques and a bespoke design that has been conceived and developed by the applicant and collaborating partners in several years of research work. It is based on, and combines, the techniques of hybrid laser-plasma wakefield acceleration and the plasma photocathode, to generate even brighter electron beams in a refinement step using electron beams from laser-plasma accelerators. The exploration and use of such special beams is of significant regional, national, and global interest. ARCTURUS has been primarily used in the past for the generation of proton and ion beams, among others, as an important component of a DFG SFB; for the fundamental transition to the generation of electron beams, the Laser-Plasma Electron Beamline is centrally required. The main components of this functional unit are various laser-side components that achieve better control and beam quality of the laser pulse, components for the central generation of the plasma wave and the electron beams from the laser-plasma interaction, special quadrupole magnets for beam transport of the electron beam after the plasma, components for data acquisition and diagnostics. The generated, particularly bright and intense electron beams have direct applications, but are also explicitly intended to be used in the development and realization of novel X-ray sources. In particular, the plan for a Free-Electron Laser is being pursued. Such intense electron and photon beams are then intended to be made available to the natural, material, and life sciences in the medium and long term.
DFG Programme
Major Research Instrumentation
Major Instrumentation
Hybride Laser-Plasma-Elektronen-Beamline
Instrumentation Group
0220 Hilfs- und Ergänzungseinrichtungen für Teilchenbeschleuniger
Applicant Institution
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
