Plasma lenses for focusing relativistic electron beams

Abstract

The next generation of colliders require tightly focused beams with high luminosity. To focus charged particle beams for such applications, a plasma focusing scheme has been proposed. Plasma lenses can be overdense (plasma density, n{sub p} much greater than electron beam density, n{sub b}) or underdense (n{sub p} less than 2 n{sub b}). In overdense lenses the space-charge force of the electron beam is canceled by the plasma and the remaining magnetic force causes the electron beam to self-pinch. The focusing gradient is nonlinear, resulting in spherical aberrations. In underdense lenses, the self-forces of the electron beam cancel, allowing the plasma ions to focus the beam. Although for a given beam density, a uniform underdense lens produces smaller focusing gradients than an overdense lens, it produces better beam quality since the focusing is done by plasma ions. The underdense lens can be improved by tapering the density of the plasma for optimal focusing. The underdense lens performance can be enhanced further by producing adiabatic plasma lenses to avoid the Oide limit on spot size due to synchrotron radiation by the electron beam. The plasma lens experiment at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) is designed to study the properties of plasmamore » lenses in both overdense and underdense regimes. In particular, important issues such as electron beam matching, time response of the lens, lens aberrations and shot-to-shot reproducibility are being investigated.« less