Plasma acceleration

Plasma acceleration is a technique for accelerating charged particles, such as electrons or ions, using the electric field associated with electron plasma wave or other high-gradient plasma structures. These plasma acceleration structures are created using either ultra-short laser pulses or energetic particle beams that are matched to the plasma parameters. The technique offers a way to build affordable and compact particle accelerators.

Once fully developed, the technology can replace many of the traditional accelerators with applications ranging from high energy physics to medical and industrial applications. Medical applications include betatron and free-electron light sources for diagnostics or radiation therapy and proton sources for hadron therapy.