Summary
High-energy physics is headed for an impasse: the next particle collider will cost several billion euros, and while designs have been ready for a decade, they are so expensive that no host country has come forward—a problem that will soon impact progress in the field.
Plasma acceleration is a novel technology promising to fix this issue—with accelerating fields 1000 times larger than in conventional machines, the size and cost of future accelerators can be drastically reduced. However, there is a gap between what current plasma accelerators can do and what the next collider requires. Therefore, a recent R&D roadmap (European Strategy for Particle Physics) calls for intensified plasma-accelerator research, as well as an intermediate demonstrator facility.
SPARTA tackles two basic problems in plasma acceleration: to reach high energy by connecting multiple accelerator stages without degrading the accelerated beam, and to do so in a stable manner. Access to stable, high-energy electron beams at a fraction of today’s cost will enable ground-breaking advances in strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED), an important near-term experiment that doubles as a demo facility.
I have proposed two concepts for overcoming these problems: nonlinear plasma lenses for transport between stages, and a new mechanism for self-stabilization. Can these concepts be realized in practice?
Making use of numerical simulations and beam-based experiments at international accelerator labs, this project has 3 objectives:
1. Develop nonlinear plasma lenses experimentally;
2. Investigate self-stabilization, theoretically and experimentally;
3. Design a plasma-accelerator facility for SFQED.
Reaching this goal will not only impact high-energy physics, producing advances in SFQED and as a major step toward realizing a collider, but also society at large: applications of high-energy electrons, from bright x-ray beams to advanced cancer treatments, will all become significantly more affordable.
Plasma acceleration is a novel technology promising to fix this issue—with accelerating fields 1000 times larger than in conventional machines, the size and cost of future accelerators can be drastically reduced. However, there is a gap between what current plasma accelerators can do and what the next collider requires. Therefore, a recent R&D roadmap (European Strategy for Particle Physics) calls for intensified plasma-accelerator research, as well as an intermediate demonstrator facility.
SPARTA tackles two basic problems in plasma acceleration: to reach high energy by connecting multiple accelerator stages without degrading the accelerated beam, and to do so in a stable manner. Access to stable, high-energy electron beams at a fraction of today’s cost will enable ground-breaking advances in strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED), an important near-term experiment that doubles as a demo facility.
I have proposed two concepts for overcoming these problems: nonlinear plasma lenses for transport between stages, and a new mechanism for self-stabilization. Can these concepts be realized in practice?
Making use of numerical simulations and beam-based experiments at international accelerator labs, this project has 3 objectives:
1. Develop nonlinear plasma lenses experimentally;
2. Investigate self-stabilization, theoretically and experimentally;
3. Design a plasma-accelerator facility for SFQED.
Reaching this goal will not only impact high-energy physics, producing advances in SFQED and as a major step toward realizing a collider, but also society at large: applications of high-energy electrons, from bright x-ray beams to advanced cancer treatments, will all become significantly more affordable.
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101116161 |
| Start date: | 01-01-2024 |
| End date: | 31-12-2028 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 1 499 368,00 Euro - 1 499 368,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
High-energy physics is headed for an impasse: the next particle collider will cost several billion euros, and while designs have been ready for a decade, they are so expensive that no host country has come forward—a problem that will soon impact progress in the field.Plasma acceleration is a novel technology promising to fix this issue—with accelerating fields 1000 times larger than in conventional machines, the size and cost of future accelerators can be drastically reduced. However, there is a gap between what current plasma accelerators can do and what the next collider requires. Therefore, a recent R&D roadmap (European Strategy for Particle Physics) calls for intensified plasma-accelerator research, as well as an intermediate demonstrator facility.
SPARTA tackles two basic problems in plasma acceleration: to reach high energy by connecting multiple accelerator stages without degrading the accelerated beam, and to do so in a stable manner. Access to stable, high-energy electron beams at a fraction of today’s cost will enable ground-breaking advances in strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED), an important near-term experiment that doubles as a demo facility.
I have proposed two concepts for overcoming these problems: nonlinear plasma lenses for transport between stages, and a new mechanism for self-stabilization. Can these concepts be realized in practice?
Making use of numerical simulations and beam-based experiments at international accelerator labs, this project has 3 objectives:
1. Develop nonlinear plasma lenses experimentally;
2. Investigate self-stabilization, theoretically and experimentally;
3. Design a plasma-accelerator facility for SFQED.
Reaching this goal will not only impact high-energy physics, producing advances in SFQED and as a major step toward realizing a collider, but also society at large: applications of high-energy electrons, from bright x-ray beams to advanced cancer treatments, will all become significantly more affordable.
Status
SIGNEDCall topic
ERC-2023-STGUpdate Date
12-03-2024
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