Recent progress and perspectives of laser–plasma accelerators

Abstract

Recent progress in laser-plasma accelerators has matured a concept of particle acceleration as a possible next-generation particle accelerator promising ultrahigh accelerating gradients in a compact size. Four major concepts of laser-plasma accelerators—the plasma beat wave accelerator, the laser wakefield accelerator, the self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator, and the plasma wakefield accelerator—are reviewed on accelerator physics issues and experiments demonstrating the basic mechanisms of their concepts. As a perspective to the future practical application, a design of 5-TeV linear colliders based on the laser wakefield accelerator is discussed.