Luminosity enhancement by a self-ionized plasma ine+e−collisions

Abstract

We employ a two-dimensional particle-in-cell code to investigate the focusing of relativistic charged-particle beams in plasmas. The intense electric fields generated by electron and positron beams in high-energy physics experiments can ionize a gas into a plasma which will then focus the beams. This self-ionization mechanism will enhance the luminosity in ${\mathit{e}}^{+}$${\mathit{e}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ collisions by implementing a plasma lens in the interaction region. We investigate the dependences of the luminosity enhancement on the plasma lens thickness and plasma density. The application of plasma lens focusing to the Stanford Linear Collider is discussed.