Plasma Beam Dumps for the EuPRAXIA Facility

Abstract

Beam dumps are indispensable components for particle accelerator facilities to absorb or dispose beam kinetic energy in a safe way. However, the design of beam dumps based on conventional technology, i.e., energy deposition via beam–dense matter interaction, makes the beam dump facility complicated and large in size, partly due to the high beam intensities and energies achieved. In addition, specific methods are needed to address the radioactive hazards that these high-power beams generate. On the other hand, the European Plasma Research Accelerator with eXcellence in Application (EuPRAXIA) project can advance the laser–plasma accelerator significantly by achieving a 1–5 GeV high-quality electron beam in a compact layout. Nevertheless, beam dumps based on the conventional technique will still produce radiation hazards and make the overall footprint less compact. Here, a plasma beam dump will be implemented to absorb the kinetic energy from the EuPRAXIA beam. In doing so, the overall compactness of the EuPRAXIA layout could be further improved, and the radioactivity generated by the facility can be mitigated. In this paper, results from particle-in-cell simulations are presented for plasma beam dumps based on EuPRAXIA beam parameters.

Multi-layer structure formation of relativistic electron beams in plasmas

“…With continuous progress in high power laser technology, multi-GeV energy gain of electrons is achievable over a short distance in the experiments [9]. Meanwhile, a safety design of the beam dump [13][14][15][16] is urgently acquired to decelerate particles into a safe energy region without radiation. Thus, based on the collective electromagnetic field of short particle bunches in the plasma, plasma-based beam dump has recently received tremendous interest to develop safer and greener facilities.…”

“…Many simulations and analytical works [13][14][15][16][17][18] have been carried out to investigate plasma-based beam dump. The strong collective stopping of few-fs electron beams inside mm-scale underdense plasma was firstly demonstrated in two independent experiments [19].…”

“…The strong collective stopping of few-fs electron beams inside mm-scale underdense plasma was firstly demonstrated in two independent experiments [19]. It is shown that the plasma beam dump can be the most straightforward application for absorbing the kinetic energy of the EuPRAXIA beam over short distance [13][14][15][16]. Generally, two types of plasma beam dump (passive beam dump and active beam dump) are considered.…”