2025/06/30 by Chiara Badiali, Rafael Almeida, Badiali, Chiara +8
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron Lasers #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.23668
openalex publication_date 2025/06/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We introduce a plasma wakefield acceleration scheme capable of boosting initially subrelativistic particles to relativistic velocities within millimeter-scale distances. A subluminal light pulse drives a wake whose velocity is continuously matched to the beam speed through a tailored plasma density, thereby extending the dephasing length. We develop a theoretical model that is generalizable across particle mass, initial velocity, and the particular accelerating bucket being used, and we verify its accuracy with particle-in-cell simulations using laser drivers with energies in the Joule range.