120 unifying physics of accelerators, lasers and plasma
(γ = 2 · 10 3 ). The synchrotron radiation is most notable at
higher energies, thus we will ignore lower energy radiation
occurring during acceleration. The oscillation amplitude r b
can only be guessed very approximately and usually needs
to be obtained via careful simulations. In a very rough approximation, r b is around 1%–10% of the bubble size (which
is ∼ λ p ). We therefore assume that r b =0.001mm. Substituting
this into the above equations, we obtain λ c = 0.025 nm (or
∼ 50 keV) and N γ per λ is ∼ 0.3 per each accelerated electron. Considering that the accelerating bunch can carry tens
of pC to nC charge, we can conclude that such a light source
can generate many hard X-ray photons.
6.6 Glimpse into the future
Plasma acceleration is a technique that opens new opportunities for creating scientific, technological and medical instruments. In this section we will give a brief review of the
progress made in laser acceleration to date, and, after comparing the evolution of plasma accelerators to the evolution
of computers in the latter half of the 20th century, we will
take a glimpse into the future.
6.6.1 Laser plasma acceleration — rapid progress
The last decade has yielded rapid progress in the field of laser
plasma acceleration. The pace of research and development
in this area received a significant boost in 2004 when the first
quasi-monoenergetic beam was generated. 1
In 2006, Oxford and Berkeley teams 2 broke the GeV barrier in laser plasma acceleration and demonstrated quasimonoenergetic properties of this accelerated beam. Demonstration of these promising properties further increased the
research momentum, and applications of the accelerated
beam started to be developed, based on generation of radiation in conventional as well as plasma wigglers (betatron radiation).
The first use of laser plasma-produced betatron radiation for biological imaging was reported 3 in 2011. Multi-GeV
laser plasma acceleration 4 was mastered to produce around
4 GeV beams and further progress is expected.
1 S. Mangles, Nature, 2004.
2 W. Leemans et al., Nature Physics 2006.
3 S. Kneip et al., Applied Physics Letters, 2011.
4 W. Leemans et al., Phys. Rev. Letters, 2014.
(γ = 2 · 10 3 ). The synchrotron radiation is most notable at
higher energies, thus we will ignore lower energy radiation
occurring during acceleration. The oscillation amplitude r b
can only be guessed very approximately and usually needs
to be obtained via careful simulations. In a very rough approximation, r b is around 1%–10% of the bubble size (which
is ∼ λ p ). We therefore assume that r b =0.001mm. Substituting
this into the above equations, we obtain λ c = 0.025 nm (or
∼ 50 keV) and N γ per λ is ∼ 0.3 per each accelerated electron. Considering that the accelerating bunch can carry tens
of pC to nC charge, we can conclude that such a light source
can generate many hard X-ray photons.
6.6 Glimpse into the future
Plasma acceleration is a technique that opens new opportunities for creating scientific, technological and medical instruments. In this section we will give a brief review of the
progress made in laser acceleration to date, and, after comparing the evolution of plasma accelerators to the evolution
of computers in the latter half of the 20th century, we will
take a glimpse into the future.
6.6.1 Laser plasma acceleration — rapid progress
The last decade has yielded rapid progress in the field of laser
plasma acceleration. The pace of research and development
in this area received a significant boost in 2004 when the first
quasi-monoenergetic beam was generated. 1
In 2006, Oxford and Berkeley teams 2 broke the GeV barrier in laser plasma acceleration and demonstrated quasimonoenergetic properties of this accelerated beam. Demonstration of these promising properties further increased the
research momentum, and applications of the accelerated
beam started to be developed, based on generation of radiation in conventional as well as plasma wigglers (betatron radiation).
The first use of laser plasma-produced betatron radiation for biological imaging was reported 3 in 2011. Multi-GeV
laser plasma acceleration 4 was mastered to produce around
4 GeV beams and further progress is expected.
1 S. Mangles, Nature, 2004.
2 W. Leemans et al., Nature Physics 2006.
3 S. Kneip et al., Applied Physics Letters, 2011.
4 W. Leemans et al., Phys. Rev. Letters, 2014.