Plasma accelerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11013100-B2
Application number	US-201716341039-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2017
Priority date	Oct 10, 2016
Publication date	May 18, 2021
Grant date	May 18, 2021

Abstract

A method of accelerating charged particles in a plasma and an associated plasma accelerator and electromagnetic radiation source, the method including creating a region of non-uniform electric field within the plasma which propagates through the plasma; using the non-uniform electric field to accelerate a first plurality of charged particles in the direction of propagation of the region of non-uniform electric field; and once the accelerating first plurality of charged particles have propagated part-way through the plasma: adding a second plurality of charged particles to the plasma, such that the second plurality of charged particles propagates through the plasma, the second plurality of charged particles create a local distortion in the non-uniform electric field experienced by the accelerating first plurality of charged particles, and the local distortion in the non-uniform electric field propagates through the plasma with the accelerating first plurality of charged particles; and the method also including using the local distortion in the non-uniform electric field to accelerate the first plurality of charged particles in the direction of propagation of the region of non-uniform electric field.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of accelerating charged particles in a plasma, the method comprising the steps of:
creating a region of non-uniform electric field within the plasma which propagates through the plasma;
using the non-uniform electric field to accelerate a first plurality of charged particles in the direction of propagation of the region of non-uniform electric field;
once the accelerating first plurality of charged particles have propagated part-way through the plasma:
(A) adding a second plurality of charged particles to the plasma, such that:
(i) the second plurality of charged particles propagates through the plasma with the accelerating first plurality of charged particles,
(ii) the second plurality of charged particles creates a local distortion in the non-uniform electric field experienced by the accelerating first plurality of charged particles, and
(iii) the local distortion in the non-uniform electric field propagates through the plasma with the accelerating first plurality of charged particles; and

(B) using the local distortion in the non-uniform electric field to accelerate the first plurality of charged particles in the direction of propagation of the region of non-uniform electric field.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the energy distribution of the first plurality of charged particles broadened due to the non-uniform electric field, and the energy distribution of the first plurality of charged particles is at least partially narrowed due to the local distortion in the non-uniform electric field.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the energy distribution of the first plurality of charged particles due to the non-uniform electric field and due to the local distortion in the electric field is equal or within a threshold amount.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first or the second plurality of charged particles comprise a group, bunch, collection, packet, or beam of charged particles.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first or the second plurality of charged particles comprise at least one of electrons, positrons, protons, or ions.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform electric field is created by the propagation of a plasma wave through the plasma.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plasma wave is created by a laser beam or particle beam interacting with the plasma.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plasma comprises a low ionization threshold component and a high ionization threshold component.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plasma wave propagates in the low ionization threshold component.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of charged particles are created by the under-dense photocathode Trojan Horse method.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second plurality of charged particles are electrons ionized from the high ionization threshold component.

12. A plasma accelerator configured to implement the method of claim 1 , the plasma accelerator comprising:
a plasma generator;
a first excitation source configured to create the non-uniform electric field which propagates through the plasma and which accelerates the first plurality of charged particles in the direction of propagation of the region of non-uniform electric field or, is configured to create the first plurality of charged particles within the plasma;
a second excitation source configured to create the second plurality of charged particles within the plasma once the first plurality of charged particles have propagated part-way through the plasma, wherein the second plurality of charged particles propagate through the plasma with the accelerating first plurality of charged particles, create the local distortion in the non-uniform electric field experienced by the accelerating first plurality of charged particles, the local distortion in the non-uniform electric field configured to accelerate the first plurality of charged particles in the direction of propagation of the region of non-uniform electric field; and
an external controller configured to control when at least one of the first or the second excitation sources interact with the plasma.

13. The plasma accelerator of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the first or the second excitation sources comprise at least one laser.

14. The plasma accelerator of claim 12 , wherein the plasma generator comprises a heater or an electromagnetic field generator.

15. The plasma accelerator of claim 12 , comprising at least one of:
a first transport system, configured to transport at least one of the first plurality of charged particles or the first excitation source into the plasma; or
a second transport system, configured to collect the first plurality of charged particles from the plasma.

16. An electromagnetic radiation source comprising the plasma accelerator of claim 12 .

17. The electromagnetic radiation source of claim 16 , wherein the electromagnetic radiation source is one of:
a free-electron laser,
an inverse Compton scattering light source, or
an ion channel laser.

18. The electromagnetic radiation source of claim 17 , wherein the inverse Compton scattering light source or the ion channel laser operate within the plasma of the plasma accelerator.

Assignees

• Univ Strathclyde

Inventors

• Hidding Bernhard
• Manahan Grace
• Habib Fahim Ahmad
• Scherkl Paul

Classifications

• H05H15/00

  Methods or devices for acceleration of charged particles not otherwise provided for {, e.g. wakefield accelerators} · CPC title

• H05H1/54 Primary

  Plasma accelerators · CPC title

• H05H1/46

  using applied electromagnetic fields, e.g. high frequency or microwave energy (H05H1/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01S3/0903

  Free-electron laser · CPC title