A group of researchers including distinguished members of the EuPRAXIA collaboration have just published a review article in Nature Photonics summarizing the recent advances and challenges in developing plasma-driven Free Electron Lasers (FEL), a valuable source of high-brilliance ultrashort coherent light for the study of subatomic matter, ultrafast dynamics of complex systems and X-ray nonlinear optics, among other applications.
Plasma-wakefield-based acceleration technology provides a new approach for driving FELs, with the potential to reduce the material and economic footprint of current FEL facilities and enhance their performance using the unique properties of plasma-accelerated electron beams. First author of the review, Dr Mario Galletti (INFN-LNF/University of Rome Tor Vergata) shared that "With the advent of plasma wakefield acceleration, we are entering a new era where particle accelerators become both more powerful and compact. This technology holds the key to developing next-generation free-electron lasers, enabling unprecedented studies of matter at the most fundamental levels. As international efforts advance, the progress in plasma-driven FELs marks a major step forward, bringing us closer to unlocking a wide range of applications in science and industry."
The review describes the operating principles of plasma accelerators, and gives an overview of recent experimental milestones for plasma-driven FELs in self-amplified spontaneous emission and seeded configurations. It also highlights the remaining major challenges in the field, in particular to improve the electron beam quality and shot-to-shot stability and to increase the repetition rate to achieve plasma-based X-FEL operational facilities. The ultimate goal is to create dedicated plasma-FEL user facilities, expanding global access to FEL photon sources and enabling new areas of research.
The article describes the vision for the future of the three plasma-based accelerator facilities that have successfully operated a FEL, exploring different configurations for the plasma wakefield driver beam, plasma stage design and operational regime: the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, COXINEL at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, and SPARC_LAB at Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati.
The authors conclude by introducing EuPRAXIA as a joint effort towards the realization of an operational plasma-driven FEL facility, stating that close collaboration with existing FEL user communities is essential to identify key applications that can benefit from plasma-FEL machines in the near future.
Reference:
Prospects for free-electron lasers powered by plasma-wakefield-accelerated beams
M. Galletti, R. Assmann, M. E. Couprie, M. Ferrario, L. Giannessi, A. Irman, R. Pompili, and W. Wang
Nature Photonics 18, 780–791 (August 2024)
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