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Dephasingless laser wakefield acceleration in a plasma waveguide

J. P. Palastro1,*, K. G. Miller1,†, C. D. Arrowsmith1, R. Almeida2, M. R. Edwards3, A. L. Elliott1, A. Kiewel1, A. Konzel1, L. S. Mack1 et al.

D. Ramsey1, D. Singh3, A. G. R. Thomas4, and J. Vieira2

  • *Contact author: jpal@lle.rochester.edu
  • †Contact author: kmill@lle.rochester.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033364 – Published 25 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/69yc-j1qh

Abstract

Laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) provide extremely large accelerating gradients for compact electron accelerators and photon sources but are limited by dephasing, where trapped electrons outrun the accelerating phase of the wakefield. Flying-focus pulses can eliminate dephasing by driving a wake at the vacuum speed of light, but these pulses involve trade-offs, such as varying spot size, long duration, or large plasma volume. Here, we show that a spatiotemporally structured laser pulse propagating in a plasma waveguide can drive a wakefield at the vacuum speed of light while maintaining a constant spot size and ultrashort duration. The pulse is formed by superposing plasma-waveguide modes with appropriately selected frequencies. Compared with flying-focus approaches, the waveguide substantially reduces the required plasma volume. Scaling laws and quasi-three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that the single-stage energy gain increases linearly with the number of modes used to construct the pulse, enabling larger energy gains or shorter stages than standard LWFA.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033364– Published 25 September, 2026
  • Received 18 June 2026
  • Accepted 26 August 2026
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