Progress in User-friendly X-ray Sources based on Plasma Accelerators

by Ralph Assmann (DESY)

Friday 11 Dec 2015, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Berlin

AER19/3.11 (European XFEL GmbH)

Electron beams are today widely used for the generation of cutting-edge photon beams that allow new insights into Nature’s secrets. The new research opportunities have created a rapidly growing community in so-called “photon science”, attracting top-level scientists from physics, chemistry, structural biology, science, engineering and industry. The quality of the photon beams and the availability of sufficient beam time are of critical importance. There is therefore a strong interest in compact and cost-efficient photon sources, which can serve a large user community in complementarity with the existing large-scale facilities. New acceleration techniques have opened a path to compact accelerators with much reduced acceleration lengths. Laser- or beam-driven plasma accelerators increase acceleration fields by a factor 1,000, correspondingly reducing acceleration lengths. Laser-driven dielectric structures provide acceleration fields 10 – 100 times above present operating machines and are an alternative technique. Achievements in plasma acceleration techniques are described and compared to other novel approaches for compact electron accelerators. The challenges towards the goal of a user-friendly plasma accelerator are discussed. Finally, possible applications and opportunities for photon science are explained.