Abstract
A Proton Driven Plasma Wakefield Acceleration Experiment has been proposed as an approach to eventually accelerate an electron beam to the TeV energy range in a single plasma section. To verify this novel technique, a proof of principle R&D experiment, AWAKE, is planned at CERN using 400GeV proton bunches from the SPS. An electron beam will be injected into the plasma cell to probe the accelerating wakefield. The AWAKE experiment will be installed in the CNGS facility profiting from existing infrastructure where only minor modifications need to be foreseen. The design of the experimental area and the proton and electron beam lines are shown. The achievable SPS proton bunch properties and their reproducibility have been measured and are presented.
Highlights
The AWAKE experiment is the world's first proton driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment, which will use a high-energy proton bunch to drive a plasma wakefield for electron beam acceleration
The experiment will be installed upstream the CNGS target area; only minor modifications are necessary to the end of the proton beam line including changes to the final focusing system and the integration of the laser and electron beam with the proton beam
Two different operational optics are available in the SPS, and below we present results obtained with the optics that has a lower gamma at transition, where a similar bunch length but better transverse stability can be expected [8]
Summary
The longitudinal wakefields can be probed by injecting low energy witness electrons into the plasma cell. Two different operational optics are available in the SPS, and below we present results obtained with the optics that has a lower gamma at transition (γT 1⁄4 18), where a similar bunch length but better transverse stability can be expected [8] In this optics, the transverse emittances (obtained from wire scans at flat top with an accuracy of about 720%) scale roughly linearly with intensity, see Fig. 10, due to the space charge effect in the injectors; the slope is increased by injection losses that are p N. $ 3:1 Â 1011 protons, some uncontrolled longitudinal emittance blow-up was observed towards the end of the cycle, indicating longitudinal instabilities, which increase the bunch length, and deteriorate the reproducibility of bunch parameters. These instabilities could potentially be suppressed by using controlled emittance blow-up during the acceleration ramp, as already done for LHC beams
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