The power of plasma: Extending the energy frontier and democratizing X-ray lasers

ORAL

Abstract

Plasma-based particle accelerators have transitioned from dream to reality over the past four decades and have approached within striking distance of application readiness. Bunches of tens-of-millions of electrons are now regularly accelerated from rest to nearly 10 GeV of energy-per-particle in the distance of mere centimeters. With such accelerating gradients, it should be possible to extend the reach of particle colliders operating at the energy frontier, as well as reduce the size and cost of ultra-high-brightness X-ray laser sources, making them more accessible to researchers throughout the world. One of the next major challenges is the preservation of beam quality during the acceleration process to meet the physics-driven demands of major target applications. In this talk, I will describe research efforts being led by the University of Colorado Boulder to address this and other challenges at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's FACET-II advanced accelerator research facility.

*This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics, under Award Number DE-SC001796 and Award Number DE-SC0023977, as well as the National Science Foundation under Grant Number PHY-2047083. This research used resources of the Facility for Advanced Accelerator Experimental Tests II (FACET-II), which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

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Publication: 1. C. Hansel, et al., "Three Dimensional Theory of the Ion Channel Laser", arXiv:2509.20995 (2025)

2. R. Ariniello, V. Lee, M. D. Litos, "Demonstration of a tandem lens for producing shaped laser-ionized plasmas for plasma wakefield acceleration", arXiv:2509.01747 (2025)

3. V. Lee, et al., "Precision alignment and tolerance of a plasma wakefield accelerator in a laser-ionized plasma source", arXiv:2508.16864 (2025)

4. V. Lee, et al., "Temporal evolution of the light emitted by a thin, laser-ionized plasma source", Phys. Plasmas 31, 013104 (2024)

5. C. Doss, et al., "Underdense Plasma Lens with a Transverse Density Gradient", Physical Review Accellerators and Beams 26, 031302 (2023)

6. R. Ariniello, C. E. Doss, V. Lee, C. Hansel, J. R. Cary, and M. D. Litos, "Chromatic Dynamics of an Electron Beam in a Plasma Based Accelerator", Physical Review Research 4, 043120 (2022)

7. K. Hunt-Stone, R. Ariniello, C. E. Doss, J. R. Cary, and M. D. Litos, "Electro-optic sampling beam position monitor for relativistic electron beams", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, A 999, 165210 (2021)

8. C. Doss, et al., "Laser-ionized, beam-driven, underdense, passive thin plasma lens", Physical Re- view Accelerators and Beams 22, 111001 (2019)

9. M. Litos, R. Ariniello, C. Doss, K. Hunt-Stone, and J. R. Cary, "Beam emittance preservation us- ing Gaussian density ramps in a beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerator", Philosophical Trans- actions of the Royal Society A 377, 20180181 (2019)

10. R. Ariniello, C. Doss, K. Hunt-Stone, J. R. Cary, and M. Litos, "Transverse beam dynamics in a plasma density ramp", Physical Review Accelerators and Beams 22, 041304 (2019)

11. M. Litos, R. Ariniello, C. Doss, K. Hunt-Stone, and J. R. Cary, "Experimental Opportunities for the Ion Channel Laser", Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop (2018)

Presenters

  • Michael Dennis Litos

    • University of Colorado, Boulder

Authors

  • Michael Dennis Litos

    • University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Valentina Lee

    • University of Colorado Boulder

  • Elena L Ros

    • University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Shutang Meng

    • University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Claire Hansel

    • University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Benjamin Braun

    • University of Colorado, Boulder