Electrons Tamed: The Breakthrough That Could Shrink Particle Accelerators

DESY scientists have taken a major step in refining laser plasma acceleration, a technology that could revolutionize particle accelerators by making them smaller, cheaper, and more versatile.

Their recent success in using a clever magnetic correction system has dramatically improved the beam quality reducing energy variation and improving consistency. With these improvements, laser-plasma accelerators could soon power advanced applications like next-generation X-ray sources, transforming research and medicine alike.

A Leap Toward Compact Accelerators

Laser-plasma acceleration is an emerging technology with the potential to revolutionize particle accelerators. By enabling much more compact designs, it could pave the way for new applications in fundamental research, industry, and healthcare. However, current prototype systems still face challenges, particularly in producing high-quality electron beams with the consistency and precision needed for real-world use.

Researchers at DESY’s LUX experiment have now taken a major step forward. By implementing a smart correction system, they significantly improved the quality of the electron bunches produced by their laser-plasma accelerator. This advance moves the technology closer to practical applications, such as serving as a compact injector for a synchrotron storage ring. The team published their findings on April 9 in the journal Nature.

How Laser-Plasma Acceleration Works

Traditional electron accelerators rely on radio waves sent through special resonator cavities to energize electrons. To reach high energies, these systems must be built in long series, making them large and expensive. Laser-plasma acceleration offers a promising alternative. It works by firing short, powerful laser pulses into a narrow, hydrogen-filled capillary to create a plasma, an ionized gas. As the laser travels through the plasma, it generates a wake, similar to the ripple left behind by a speeding boat. This wake can accelerate a bunch of electrons to very high energies in just a few millimeters.

Tackling Uniformity and Energy Spread

To date, the innovative technology has had some drawbacks. “The electron bunches produced are not yet uniform enough,” explains Andreas Maier, lead scientist for plasma acceleration at DESY. “We would like each bunch to look precisely like the next one.” Another challenge concerns the energy distribution within a bunch. Figuratively speaking, some electrons fly faster than others which is unsuitable for practical applications. In modern accelerators, these problems have long been solved by using clever machine control systems.

Precision Beam Control Through Magnetic Sorting

Using a two-stage correction, the DESY team has now succeeded in significantly improving the properties of the electron bunches produced by their laser-plasma accelerator. To achieve this, electrons accelerated by the LUX plasma accelerator are sent through a chicane consisting of four deflecting magnets. By forcing the particles to take a detour, the pulses are stretched in time and sorted according to their energy. “After the particles have passed the magnetic chicane, the faster, higher-energy electrons are at the front of the pulse,” explains Paul Winkler, first author of the study. “The slower, relatively low-energy particles are at the back.”

Fine-Tuning for Maximum Beam Quality

The stretched and energy-sorted bunch is then sent into a single accelerator module similar to those used in modern radiofrequency-based facilities. In this resonator, the electron bunches are slightly decelerated or further accelerated. “If you time the beam arrival carefully to the radio frequency, the low-energy electrons at the back of the bunch can be accelerated and the high-energy electrons at the front can be decelerated,” explains Winkler. “This compresses the energy distribution.” The team was able to reduce the energy spread by a factor of 18 and the fluctuation in the central energy by a factor of 72. Both values are smaller than one permille making them comparable to those of conventional accelerators.

“This project is a fantastic example of the collaboration between theory and experiment,” says Wim Leemans, Director of the Accelerator Division at DESY. “The theoretical concept was recently proposed and has now been implemented for the first time.” Most of the components used were from existing DESY stocks. The project team had to invest a great effort in setting up the correction stage and synchronizing the extremely rapid processes. “But once that was done things went surprisingly well,” says Winkler. “On the very first day when everything was set up, we switched on the system and immediately observed an effect.” After a few days of fine-tuning, it was clear that the correction system was working as intended.

Toward Real-World Applications

“This is also a result of the successful synergy between plasma acceleration and modern accelerator technology, as well as the collaboration between a large number of technical teams at DESY, who have extensive experience in building accelerators,” says Reinhard Brinkmann, former director of the accelerator division. “The results will help to further strengthen confidence in the young technology of laser-plasma acceleration,” adds Maier.

The research team already has concrete ideas for a potential application: the new technique could be used to generate and accelerate electron bunches to be injected into X-ray sources such as PETRA III or its planned successor, PETRA IV. To date, such particle injection has required relatively large and energy-intensive conventional accelerators. Laser-plasma technology now appears to offer a more compact and economical alternative. “What we have achieved is a big step forward for plasma accelerators. We still have a lot of development work to do, such as improving the lasers and achieving continuous operation,” says Wim Leemans. “But in principle, we have shown that a plasma accelerator is suitable for this type of application.”

Website: International Research Awards on High Energy Physics and Computational Science.

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