- Letter
- Open Access
Wakefield regeneration in a plasma accelerator
Phys. Rev. Research 7, L012055 – Published 5 March, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L012055
Abstract
Plasma wakefields offer high acceleration gradients, orders of magnitude larger than conventional RF accelerators. However, the achievable luminosity remains relatively low, typically limited by the repetition rate and the charge accelerated per shot. In this work, we show that a train of drive bunches can be harnessed to accelerate multiple witness bunches in a single shot. We demonstrate that periodically loading the wakefields removes the limit on the energy transfer from the drive beam to the plasma, which allows the luminosity to be increased. Proof-of-concept simulations for the AWAKE scheme are carried out to demonstrate the technique, achieving a doubling of the accelerated charge while exploiting only a fraction of the drive train.
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