Experimental observation of proton bunch modulation in a plasma, at varying plasma densities
E. Adli, A. Ahuja, O. Apsimon, R. Apsimon, A. -M. Bachmann, D. Barrientos, M. M. Barros, J. Batkiewicz, F. Batsch, J. Bauche, V. K. Berglyd Olsen, M. Bernardini… 展开作者
E. Adli, A. Ahuja, O. Apsimon, R. Apsimon, A. -M. Bachmann, D. Barrientos, M. M. Barros, J. Batkiewicz, F. Batsch, J. Bauche, V. K. Berglyd Olsen, M. Bernardini, B. Biskup, A. Boccardi, T. Bogey, T. Bohl, C. Bracco, F. Braunmüller, S. Burger, G. Burt, S. Bustamante, B. Buttenschön, A. Caldwell, M. Cascella, J. Chappell, E. Chevallay, M. Chung, D. Cooke, H. Damerau, L. Deacon, L. H. Deubner, A. Dexter, S. Doebert, J. Farmer, V. N. Fedosseev, G. Fior, R. Fiorito, R. A. Fonseca, F. Friebel, L. Garolfi, S. Gessner, I. Gorgisyan, A. A. Gorn, E. Granados, O. Grulke, E. Gschwendtner, A. Guerrero, J. Hansen, A. Helm, J. R. Henderson, C. Hessler, W. Hoe, M. Hüther, M. Ibison, L. Jensen, S. Jolly, F. Keeble, S. -Y. Kim, F. Kraus, T. Lefevre, G. LeGodec, Y. Li, S. Liu, N. Lopes, K. V. Lotov, L. Maricalva Brun, M. Martyanov, S. Mazzoni, D. Medina Godoy, V. A. Minakov, J. Mitchell, J. C. Molendijk, R. Mompo, J. T. Moody, M. Moreira, P. Muggli, C. Mutin, E. Öz, E. Ozturk, C. Pasquino, A. Pardons, F. Pena Asmus, K. Pepitone, A. Perera, A. Petrenko, S. Pitman, G. Plyushchev, A. Pukhov, S. Rey, K. Rieger, H. Ruhl, J. S. Schmidt, I. A. Shalimova, E. Shaposhnikova, P. Sherwood, L. O. Silva, L. Soby, A. P. Sosedkin, R. Speroni, R. I. Spitsyn, P. V. Tuev, M. Turner, F. Velotti, L. Verra, V. A. Verzilov, J. Vieira, H. Vincke, C. P. Welsch, B. Williamson, M. Wing, B. Woolley, G. Xia
备注：
4 figures, AWAKE collaboration paper, Submitted to PRL
We give direct experimental evidence for the observation of the full transverse self-modulation of a relativistic proton bunch propagating through a dense plasma. The bunch exits the plasma with a density modulation resulting from radial wakefield effects with a period reciprocal to the plasma frequency. We show that the modulation is seeded by using an intense laser pulse co-propagating with the proton bunch which creates a relativistic ionization front within the bunch. We show by varying the plasma density over one order of magnitude that the modulation period scales with the expected dependence on the plasma density.
In plasma wakefield accelerators (e.g. AWAKE) the proton bunch self-modulation is seeded by the ionization front of a high-power laser pulse ionizing a vapour and by the resulting steep edge of the driving bunch profile inside the created plasma. In this paper, we present calculations in 2D linear theory for a concept of a different self-modulation seeding mechanism based on electron injection. The whole proton bunch propagates through a preformed plasma and the effective beam current is modulated by the external injection of a short electron bunch at the centre of the proton beam. The resulti…
The AWAKE experiment relies on the self-modulation instability of a long proton bunch to effectively drive wakefields and accelerate an electron bunch to GeV-level energies. During the first experimental run (2016-2018) the instability was made phase reproducible by means of a seeding process: a short laser pulse co-propagates within the proton bunch in a rubidium vapor. Thus, the fast creation of plasma and the onset of beam-plasma interaction within the bunch drives seed wakefields. However, this seeding method leaves the front of the bunch not modulated. The bunch front could self-modulate …
A long, narrow, relativistic charged particle bunch propagating in plasma is subject to the self-modulation (SM) instability. We show that SM of a proton bunch can be seeded by the wakefields driven by a preceding electron bunch. SM timing reproducibility and control are at the level of a small fraction of the modulation period. With this seeding method, we independently control the amplitude of the seed wakefields with the charge of the electron bunch and the growth rate of SM with the charge of the proton bunch. Seeding leads to larger growth of the wakefields than in the instability case.
We study experimentally the effect of linear plasma density gradients on the self-modulation of a 400\,GeV proton bunch. Results show that a positive/negative gradient in/decreases the number of micro-bunches and the relative charge per micro-bunch observed after 10\,m of plasma. The measured modulation frequency also in/decreases. With the largest positive gradient we observe two frequencies in the modulation power spectrum. Results are consistent with changes in wakefields' phase velocity due to plasma density gradient adding to the slow wakefields' phase velocity during self-modulation grow…
Seeded self-modulation in a plasma can transform a long proton beam into a train of micro-bunches that can excite a strong wakefield over long distances, but this needs the plasma to have a certain density profile with a short-scale ramp up. For the parameters of the AWAKE experiment at CERN, we numerically study which density profiles are optimal if the self-modulation is seeded by a short electron bunch. With the optimal profiles, it is possible to "freeze" the wakefield at approximately half the wavebreaking level. High-energy electron bunches (160 MeV) are less efficient seeds than low-ene…
We investigate numerically the detection of the self-modulation instability in a virtual detector located downstream from the plasma in the context of AWAKE. We show that the density structures, appearing in the temporally resolving virtual detector, map the transverse beam phase space distribution at the plasma exit. As a result, the proton bunch radius that appears to grow along the bunch in the detector results from the divergence increase along the bunch, related with the spatial growth of the self-modulated wakefields. In addition, asymmetric bunch structures in the detector are a result …
Seeding of Self-Modulation using Truncated Seed Bunches as a Path to High Gradient Acceleration
PARTREC, UMCG, University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学）；CERN（欧洲核子研究中心）；John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, University of Oxford（牛津大学约翰·亚当斯加速器科学研究所）；Max Planck Institute for Physics（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所）；Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf（杜塞尔多夫海因里希·海涅大学）；University College London（伦敦大学学院）；Uppsala University（乌普萨拉大学）
We show in experiments that a long, relativistic proton bunch is focused by the plasma adiabatic response. The free plasma electrons migrate so as to neutralize the space charge field of the bunch, and the bunch is therefore focused by the azimuthal magnetic field generated by its own current, that is not balanced by the radial electric field. Since the length of the bunch is much longer than the plasma electron wavelength, the bunch also undergoes the self-modulation instability. Thus, the amplitude of the wakefields grows along the bunch and along the plasma, and the defocusing effect of the…
The transverse self-modulation of ultra-relativistic, long lepton bunches in high-density plasmas is explored through full-scale particle-in-cell simulations. We demonstrate that long SLAC-type electron and positron bunches can become strongly self-modulated over centimeter distances, leading to wake excitation in the blowout regime with accelerating fields in excess of 20 GV/m. We show that particles energy variations exceeding 10 GeV can occur in meter-long plasmas. We find that the self-modulation of positively and negatively charged bunches differ when the blowout is reached. Seeding the s…
We briefly compare in numerical simulations the relativistic ionization front and electron bunch seeding of the self-modulation of a relativistic proton bunch in plasma. When parameters are such that initial wakefields are equal with the two seeding methods, the evolution of the maximum longitudinal wakefields along the plasma are similar. We also propose a possible seeding/injection scheme using a single plasma that we will study in upcoming simulations works.
We present numerical simulations and experimental results of the self-modulation of a long proton bunch in a plasma with linear density gradients along the beam path. Simulation results agree with the experimental results reported in arXiv:2007.14894v2: with negative gradients, the charge of the modulated bunch is lower than with positive gradients. In addition, the bunch modulation frequency varies with gradient. Simulation results show that dephasing of the wakefields with respect to the relativistic protons along the plasma is the main cause for the loss of charge. The study of the modulati…
We describe a simple technique to passively bunch non-ultrarelativistics ($\lesssim 10$~MeV) electron bunches produced in conventional photoinjectors. The scheme employs a dielectric-lined waveguide located downstream of the electron source to impress an energy modulation on a picosecond bunch. The energy modulation is then converted into a density modulation via ballistic bunching. The method is shown to support the generation of sub-picosecond bunch train with multi-kA peak currents. The relatively simple technique is expected to find applications in compact, accelerator-based, light sources…
We measure the effects of transverse wakefields driven by a relativistic proton bunch in plasma with densities of $2.1\times10^{14}$ and \unit[$7.7\times10^{14}$]{electrons/cm$^3$}. We show that these wakefields periodically defocus the proton bunch itself, consistently with the development of the seeded self-modulation process. We show that the defocusing increases both along the bunch and along the plasma by using time resolved and time-integrated measurements of the proton bunch transverse distribution. We evaluate the transverse wakefield amplitudes and show that they exceed their seed val…
We study experimentally the longitudinal and transverse wakefields driven by a highly relativistic proton bunch during self-modulation in plasma. We show that the wakefields' growth and amplitude increase with increasing seed amplitude as well as with the proton bunch charge in the plasma. We study transverse wakefields using the maximum radius of the proton bunch distribution measured on a screen downstream from the plasma. We study longitudinal wakefields by externally injecting electrons and measuring their final energy. Measurements agree with trends predicted by theory and numerical simul…
Density modulations on electron beams can improve machine performance of beam-driven accelerators and FELs with resonance beam-wave coupling. The beam modulation is studied with a masked chicane by the analytic model and simulations with the beam parameters of the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) facility. With the chicane design parameters (bending angle of 18°, bending radius of 0.95 m and R56 ~ - 0.19 m) and a nominal beam of 3 ps bunch length, the analytic model showed that a slit-mask with slit period 900 μm and aperture width 300 μm induces a modulation of bunch-to-bunc…
We show that the hosing instability can be suppressed after the saturation of the self-modulation instability of a long particle bunch if the plasma density perturbation is linear. We derive scalings for maximum bunch tilts and seeds for the self-modulation instability to ensure stable propagation beyond saturation of self-modulation. Numerical solutions of the reduced hosing equations and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirm our analytical findings. Our results may also apply when a train of particle bunches or laser pulses excites a linear wake.
In AWAKE a self-modulated proton bunch drives wakefields in a plasma. Recent experiments successfully demonstrated many aspects of the self-modulation of the drive bunch as well as acceleration of test electrons. Next experiments will focus on producing a multi-GeV accelerated electron bunch with low emittance and low energy spread. The experiment requires a variety of advanced beam diagnostics to characterize the self-modulated proton bunch at the picosecond time scale. These include optical transition radiation and a streak camera for short and long time scale detailed imaging of self-modula…
We use a relativistic ionization front to provide various initial transverse wakefield amplitudes for the self-modulation of a long proton bunch in plasma. We show experimentally that, with sufficient initial amplitude ($\ge(4.1\pm0.4)$ MV/m), the phase of the modulation along the bunch is reproducible from event to event, with 3 to 7% (of 2$π$) rms variations all along the bunch. The phase is not reproducible for lower initial amplitudes. We observe the transition between these two regimes. Phase reproducibility is essential for deterministic external injection of particles to be accelerated.
We expand on the material that was published in the previous Proceedings of the CERN Accelerator School on Plasma Wakefield Acceleration. The material focused on Plasma Wakefield Acceleration in the short, narrow bunch regime. After a brief introduction, we describe Plasma Wakefield Acceleration driven by a bunch train. We then attempt to give simple and intuitive descriptions of bunch self-modulation, occurring when the bunch is long, and of current filamentation, occurring when the bunch is wide. Self-modulation is a means to use existing bunches carrying large amounts of energy to drive pla…
We show using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and theoretical analysis that a high-quality electron beam whose density is modulated at angstrom scales can be generated directly using density downramp injection in a periodically modulated density in nonlinear plasma wave wakefields. The density modulation turns on and off the injection of electrons at the period of the modulation. Due to the unique longitudinal mapping between the electrons' initial positions and their final trapped positions inside the wake, this results in an electron beam with density modulation at a wavelength orders of …
Measurement of the Saturation Length of the Self-Modulation Instability
Max Planck Institute for Physics（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所）；CERN（欧洲核子研究组织）；UCL（伦敦大学学院）；PARTREC, UMCG, University of Groningen（帕尔特雷克，乌得勒支大学医学中心，格罗宁根大学）；Uppsala University（乌普萨拉大学）；University of Manchester（曼彻斯特大学）；Cockcroft Institute（科克克罗夫特研究所）；Lancaster University（兰开斯特大学）；GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa（等离子体与核聚变研究所，技术高等学院，里斯本大学）
The plasma wakefield amplitudes which could be achieved via the modulation of a long proton bunch are investigated. We find that in the limit of long bunches compared to the plasma wavelength, the strength of the accelerating fields is directly proportional to the number of particles in the drive bunch and inversely proportional to the square of the transverse bunch size. The scaling laws were tested and verified in detailed simulations using parameters of existing proton accelerators, and large electric fields were achieved, reaching 1 GV/m for LHC bunches. Energy gains for test electrons bey…
AWAKE is a proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment. % We show that the experimental setup briefly described here is ready for systematic study of the seeded self-modulation of the 400\,GeV proton bunch in the 10\,m-long rubidium plasma with density adjustable from 1 to 10$\times10^{14}$\,cm$^{-3}$. % We show that the short laser pulse used for ionization of the rubidium vapor propagates all the way along the column, suggesting full ionization of the vapor. % We show that ionization occurs along the proton bunch, at the laser time and that the plasma that follows affects the prot…
We report observation of a strong wakefield induced energy modulation in an energy-chirped electron bunch passing through a dielectric-lined waveguide. This modulation can be effectively converted into a spatial modulation forming micro-bunches with a periodicity of 0.5 - 1 picosecond, hence capable of driving coherent THz radiation. The experimental results agree well with theoretical predictions.
Seeded Self-modulation (SSM) has been demonstrated to transform a long proton bunch into many equidistant micro-bunches (e.g., the AWAKE case), which then resonantly excite strong wakefields. However, the wakefields in a uniform plasma suffer from a quick amplitude drop after reaching the peak. This is caused by a significant decrease of the wake phase velocity during self-modulation. A large number of protons slip out of focusing and decelerating regions and get lost, and thus cannot contribute to the wakefield growth. Previously suggested solutions incorporate a sharp or a linear plasma long…
We present the set-up and test-measurements of a waveguide-integrated heterodyne diagnostic for coherent transition radiation (CTR) in the AWAKE experiment. The goal of the proof-of-principle experiment AWAKE is to accelerate a witness electron bunch in the plasma wakefield of a long proton bunch that is transformed by Seeded Self-Modulation (SSM) into a train of proton micro-bunches. The CTR pulse of the self-modulated proton bunch is expected to have a frequency in the range of 90-300 GHz and a duration of 300-700 ps. The diagnostic set-up, which is designed to precisely measure the frequenc…
The self-modulation instability is a key effect that makes possible the usage of nowadays proton beams as drivers for plasma wakefield acceleration. Development of the instability in uniform plasmas and in plasmas with a small density up-step is numerically studied with the focus at nonlinear stages of beam evolution. The step parameters providing the strongest established wakefield are found, and the mechanism of stable bunch train formation is identified.
Using a periodic electron beam bunch train to resonantly excite plasma wakefields in the quasi-nonlinear (QNL) regime has distinct advantages over employing a single, higher charge bunch. Resonant excitation in the QNL regime can produce plasma electron blowout using very low emittance beams with a small charge per pulse: the local density perturbation is extremely nonlinear, achieving total rarefaction, yet the resonant response of the plasma electrons at the plasma frequency is preserved. Such a pulse train, with inter-bunch spacing equal to the plasma period, can be produced via inverse fre…
The AWAKE experiment at CERN aims to drive GV/m plasma wakefields with a self-modulated proton drive bunch, and to use them for electron acceleration. During the self-modulation process, protons are defocused by the transverse plasma wakefields and form a halo around the focused bunch core. The two-screen setup integrated in AWAKE measures the transverse, time-integrated proton bunch distribution downstream the \unit[10]{m} long plasma to detect defocused protons. By measuring the maximum radius of the defocused protons we attempt calculate properties of the self-modulation. In this article, w…
In this paper, we propose a scheme to generate tunable coherent X-ray radiation for future light source applications. This scheme uses an energy chirped electron beam, a laser modulator, a laser chirper and two bunch compressors to generate a prebunched kilo-Ampere current electron beam from a few tens Ampere electron beam out of a linac. The initial modulation energy wavelength can be compressed by a factor of $1+h_b R_{56}^a$ in phase space, where $h_b$ is the energy bunch length chirp introduced by the laser chirper, $R_{56}^a$ is the momentum compaction factor of the first bunch compressor…
In this paper, the feasibility of the electron-positron collider based on plasma accelerator is proved by simulation experiments. Starting from the 17.612cm proton beam provided by SPS (super proton synchrotron), the simulation shows that the long proton beam can form several high quality proton bunches through seeded self-modulation in the first half of the long proton beam in a uniform plasma. Then we use these high-quality bunches to excite the wakefield in a uniform plasma and accelerate witness positrons and witness electrons. The simulation results show that the average energy of witness…
Plasma wakefield acceleration is a method for accelerating particle beams using electromagnetic fields that are orders of magnitude larger than those found in conventional radio frequency cavities. The core component of a plasma wakefield accelerator is the plasma source, which ranges from millimeter-scale gas jets used in laser-driven experiments, to the ten-meter-long rubidium cell used in the AWAKE experiment. The density of the neutral gas is a controlled input to the experiment, but the density of the plasma after ionization depends on many factors. AWAKE uses a high-energy proton beam to…
The goal of the first phase of the AWAKE \cite{AWAKE1,AWAKE2} experiment at CERN is to measure the self-modulation \cite{SMI} of the $σ_z = 12\,\rm{cm}$ long SPS proton bunch into microbunches after traversing $10\,\rm{m}$ of plasma with a plasma density of $n_{pe}=7\times10^{14}\,\rm{electrons/cm}^3$. The two screen measurement setup \cite{Turner2016} is a proton beam diagnostic that can indirectly prove the successful development of the self-modulation of the proton beam by imaging protons that got defocused by the transverse plasma wakefields after passing through the plasma, at two locatio…
We discuss the level of natural shot noise in a proton bunch-driven plasma accelerator. The required seeding for the plasma wake field must be larger than the cumulative shot noise. This is the necessary condition for the axial symmetry of the generated wake and the acceleration quality. We develop an analytical theory of the noise field and compare it with multi-dimensional simulations. It appears that the natural noise wake field generated in plasma by the available at CERN super-protons-synchrotron (SPS) bunches is very low, at the level of a few 10 kV/m. This fortunate fact eases the requi…
The Advanced Wakefield Experiment (AWAKE) is an accelerator R&D experiment at CERN using, for the first time, a high-energy proton bunch to drive wakefields in plasma and accelerating electrons to the GeV energy scale. The principle of the AWAKE experiment is described. We show experimental results of the seeded self-modulation process of the long 400 GeV SPS proton bunch, transforming the bunch into a train of micro-bunches and driving resonantly the wakefields in the 10 m long Rb plasma. We also show that externally-injected electrons can be accelerated by these wakefields to several GeV. Th…
This paper continues the work of two previous treatments of bunch lengthening by a passive harmonic cavity in an electron storage ring. Such cavities, intended to reduce the effect of Touschek scattering, are a feature of fourth generation synchrotron light sources. The charge densities in the equilibrium state are given by solutions of coupled Haïssinski equations, which are nonlinear integral equations. If the only wake fields are from cavity resonators, the unknowns can be the Fourier transforms of bunch densities at the resonator frequencies. The solution scheme based on this choice of unk…
The perturbative approach for describing the underdense plasma--ultrarelativistic electron bunch system is developed, using the ratio $\frac{n_0}{n_b}$ as a small parameter ($n_b$--bunch,$n_0$--plasma electron densities). Focusing of the electron bunch emerged in the first approximation of the perturbative procedure as a result of the plasma electrons redistribution. Focusing gradient and strength for ultrarelativistic, flat, uniform and short bunch are obtained and compared with the previous results.
Electron bunches with charge densities $ρ$ of the order of $10^2$ to $10^3$ [nC/cm$^3$], energies between $20.$ and $100.$ [MeV], peak current $>100$ [A], bunch lengths between 0.3 and 1.8 [cm], and bunch charge of 2.0 to $20.$ [nC] are relevant to the design of Free Electron Lasers and future linear colliders. In this paper we present the results of numerical simulations performed with a particle in a cell (pic) code of an electron bunch in a drift tube. The electron bunch has cylindrical symmetry with the $z$-axis oriented in the direction of motion. The charge density distribution is consta…
We propose a method based on the slice energy spread modulation to generate strong subpicoseond density bunching in high-intensity relativistic electron beams. A laser pulse with periodic intensity envelope is used to modulate the slice energy spread of the electron beam, which can then be converted into density modulation after a dispersive section. It is found that the double-horn slice energy distribution of the electron beam induced by the laser modulation is very effective to increase the density bunching. Since the modulation is performed on a relativistic electron beam, the process does…
The AWAKE experiment will use a \SI{400}{GeV/c} proton beam with a longitudinal bunch length of $σ_z = 12\,\rm{cm}$ to create and sustain GV/m plasma wakefields over 10 meters . A 12 cm long bunch can only drive strong wakefields in a plasma with $n_{pe} = 7 \times 10^{14}\,\rm{electrons/cm}^3$ after the self-modulation instability (SMI) developed and microbunches formed, spaced at the plasma wavelength. The fields present during SMI focus and defocus the protons in the transverse plane \cite{SMI}. We show that by inserting two imaging screens downstream the plasma, we can measure the maximum …
Due to the highly nonlinear nature of the beam-loading, it is at present not possible to analytically determine the beam parameters needed in a two-bunch plasma wakefield accelerator for maintaining a low energy spread. Therefore in this paper, by using the Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno algorithm for the parameter scanning with the code QuickPIC and the polynomial regression together with k-fold cross-validation method, we obtain two fitting formulas for calculating the parameters of tri-Gaussian electron beams when minimizing the energy spread based on the beam-loading effect in a nonlinea…
The AWAKE Collaboration is pursuing a demonstration of proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration of electrons. The AWAKE experiment uses a \SI{400}{GeV/c} proton bunch from the CERN SPS, with a rms bunch length of $6$-\SI{15}{cm}, to drive wakefields in a \SI{10}{m} long rubidium plasma with an electron density of $10^{14}-10^{15}$cm$^{-3}$. Since the drive bunch length is much longer than the plasma wavelength ($λ_{pe}<$\SI{3}{mm}) for these plasma densities, AWAKE performed experiments to prove that the long proton bunch self-modulates in the plasma (2017). The next step is to demonstrate …
The AWAKE experiment had a very successful Run 1 (2016-8), demonstrating proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration for the first time, through the observation of the modulation of a long proton bunch into micro-bunches and the acceleration of electrons up to 2 GeV in 10 m of plasma. The aims of AWAKE Run 2 (2021-4) are to have high-charge bunches of electrons accelerated to high energy, about 10 GeV, maintaining beam quality through the plasma and showing that the process is scalable. The AWAKE scheme is therefore a promising method to accelerate electrons to high energy over short distances…
The spectroscopy of betatron radiation from the focusing plasma column can work as a powerful non-invasive beam diagnostic method for plasma wakefield acceleration experiments such as the AWAKE. In this paper, the effects of radial size mismatch and off-axis injection on the beam dynamics, as well as the spectral features of the betatron radiation emitted by the witness electron bunch in the quasi-linear proton-driven plasma wakefield are studied. It is shown that the evolution of the critical betatron photon energy and the overall photon angular distribution can effectively reveal the initial…
The Advanced Proton Driven Plasma Wakefield Acceleration Experiment (AWAKE) aims at studying plasma wakefield generation and electron acceleration driven by proton bunches. It is a proof-of-principle R&D experiment at CERN and the world's first proton driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment. The AWAKE experiment will be installed in the former CNGS facility and uses the 400 GeV/c proton beam bunches from the SPS. The first experiments will focus on the self-modulation instability of the long (r.m.s ~12 cm) proton bunch in the plasma. These experiments are planned for the end of 2016. L…
