Scientists at DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) have moved closer toward developing compact, powerful particle accelerators.<\/p>\n
They have successfully used their new laser system, KALDERA, to accelerate 100 bunches of electrons per second within a compact plasma accelerator known as MAGMA.<\/p>\n
This breakthrough addresses a major bottleneck in laser-plasma acceleration technology, i.e., the repetition rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe technology promises compact systems that have enormous potential to open up new applications for accelerators, for example in medicine or industry,\u201d said DESY in a press release.<\/p>\n
Addressing limitations of accelerators<\/p>\n
Conventional particle accelerators<\/a>, which rely on radio-frequency waves and a series of large resonators, are often sprawling and expensive facilities.<\/p>\n Laser-plasma acceleration offers a revolutionary alternative, shrinking the scale dramatically. This innovative technique involves firing short, intense laser pulses into a tiny hydrogen-filled tube, which creates a plasma wave in its wake.<\/p>\n \u201cThis plasma wave is so highly charged that it can accelerate electrons enormously over a distance of just a few millimetres,\u201d added the team.<\/p>\n \u201cThis would make it possible to build more cost-effective machines, for example free-electron lasers,\u201d highlighted Andreas Maier, lead scientist for plasma acceleration at DESY.<\/p>\n While the potential of laser-plasma accelerators has been evident in several prototypes, their low repetition rate has been a major hurdle for real-world applications.<\/p>\n \u201cThe viable operation of an FEL requires several hundred to thousands shots per second,\u201d explained the press release.<\/p>\n The KALDERA laser system was specifically designed to overcome this limitation.<\/p>\n Sophisticated system to manage immense power<\/p>\n \u201cIn the future, this new laser is meant to accelerate up to a thousand electron bunches per second,\u201d remarked Manuel Kirchen, Team Leader for High-Average Power Laser Plasma Acceleration at DESY.<\/p>\n