{"id":939,"date":"2022-09-19T14:11:39","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T18:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techfragments.com\/?p=939"},"modified":"2022-09-19T15:00:35","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T19:00:35","slug":"compact-electron-accelerator-new-speeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techfragments.com\/compact-electron-accelerator-new-speeds\/","title":{"rendered":"With Just Light A Compact Electron Accelerator Hits New Speeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers have used ultrafast lasers under precise control to accelerate electrons over a 20-centimeter stretch to speeds typically only achieved in particle accelerators the size of ten football fields.<\/p>\n

The feat was reached by using two laser pulses sent through a jet of hydrogen gas, by a team at the University of Maryland (UMD) headed by Professor of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering Howard Milchberg<\/a>, collaborating with the team of Jorge J. Rocca<\/a> at Colorado State University (CSU).<\/p>\n

The first laser pulse broke through the hydrogen, piercing it and forming a plasma channel. The second, more powerful pulse was guided by that channel and scooped up electrons from the plasma, dragging them along in its wake, and accelerating them to almost the speed of light.<\/p>\n

Everything Powered By Lasers<\/h2>\n
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Experimental setup. LWFA drive laser pulse. Credit: B. Miao, et al CC-BY<\/p><\/div>\n

By using this technique, the team was able to accelerate electrons to an energy that was roughly 40% of what was possible at enormous facilities like the kilometer-long Linac Coherent Light Source<\/a> (LCLS), an accelerator at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.<\/p>\n

“This is the first multi-GeV electron accelerator powered entirely by lasers. And with lasers becoming cheaper and more efficient, we expect that our technique will become the way to go for researchers in this field,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

said Milchberg.<\/p>\n

Accelerators like LCLS, which has a kilometer-long runway and can accelerate electrons to 13.6 billion electron volts (GeV), or the energy of an electron travelling at 99.99999993 percent the speed of light, are what inspired the current research. Three Nobel Prize-winning discoveries about basic particles were made thanks to LCLS’s predecessor.<\/p>\n

The most potent X-ray laser beams in the world are produced utilising the super-fast electrons produced by the LCLS, which is now a third of the initial accelerator. These X-rays are used by scientists to view atoms and molecules in motion while generating movies of chemical reactions. These videos are essential resources for developing new drugs, improving energy storage, developing electronics, and many other things.<\/p>\n

Lightning Storm Damage<\/h2>\n

It takes a lot to accelerate electrons to tens of GeV of energy. The linear accelerator at SLAC propels electrons by employing strong electric fields that go through a very long string of divided metal tubes. The tubes would suffer significant damage if the electric fields were any stronger because they would cause a lightning storm inside the tubes.<\/p>\n

Since researchers are unable to push electrons harder, they have chosen to press them for longer, giving the particles more room to accelerate. This is why a kilometer-long swath of northern California was cut. The UMD and CSU teams tried to accelerate electrons to almost the speed of light using light itself in order to scale down this technology.<\/p>\n

“The goal ultimately is to shrink GeV-scale electron accelerators to a modest size room. You’re taking kilometer-scale devices, and you have another factor of 1,000 stronger accelerating field. So, you’re taking kilometer-scale to meter scale, that’s the goal of this technology,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

said co-first author Jaron Shrock, graduate student in physics at UMD.<\/p>\n

Laser Wakefield Acceleration<\/h2>\n
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simulation in which a laser pulse (red) drives a plasma wave, accelerating electrons in its wake. The bright yellow spot is the area with the highest concentration of electrons. In an experiment, scientists used this technique to accelerate electrons to nearly the speed of light over a span of just 20 centimeters. Credit: Bo Miao\/IREAP<\/p><\/div>\n

The process of laser wakefield acceleration, which involves sending a pulse of highly concentrated laser light across a plasma to produce a disruption and drag electrons in its wake, is used to produce those stronger accelerating fields in a lab.<\/p>\n

First hypothesised in 1979, laser wakefield acceleration was demonstrated in 1995<\/a>. However, the few centimetres that it could accelerate electrons across tenaciously remained its maximum range.<\/p>\n

“You can imagine the laser pulse like a boat. As the laser pulse travels in the plasma, because it is so intense, it pushes the electrons out of its path, like water pushed aside by the prow of a boat. Those electrons loop around the boat and gather right behind it, traveling in the pulse’s wake,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

co-first author Bo Miao, a postdoctoral fellow in physics at the University of Maryland, said.<\/p>\n