Multistage coupling of independent laser-plasma accelerators.

Area of Science:

• Plasma Physics
• Particle Acceleration

Background:

• Laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs) offer compact, high-energy particle acceleration compared to conventional methods.
• Single-stage LPAs face limitations including laser diffraction, dephasing, beam loading, and laser energy depletion.
• Overcoming laser energy depletion requires multi-stage acceleration designs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the feasibility of staged laser-plasma acceleration.
• To address the laser energy depletion limitation in LPAs.
• To explore a pathway for achieving higher electron beam energies for collider applications.

Main Methods:

• Coupled two LPA stages using a plasma mirror.
• Employed a discharge capillary-based active plasma lens for electron beam focusing.
• Utilized controlled electron beam arrival times to probe the wakefield structure.

Main Results:

• Achieved stable electron beam transfer between LPA stages.
• Observed a 100 megaelectronvolt energy gain in the second stage for a subset of the electron beam.
• Reconstructed temporal wakefield structure and determined plasma density by varying electron beam arrival time.

Conclusions:

• Staging effectively overcomes the laser energy depletion limitation in LPAs.
• The demonstrated technique provides a promising approach for reaching electron energies suitable for collider applications.
• This work paves the way for developing next-generation compact particle accelerators.