arXiv subjects

L. Verra

Publications and source records attributed to L. Verra.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Demonstration of a 10-metre-long discharge plasma source for plasma wakefield acceleration

The AWAKE experiment at CERN uses high-energy proton bunches to drive plasma wakefields capable of accelerating electron bunches up to hundreds of GeV in a single plasma. Realising this potential requires a plasma source that can extend to tens of metres while maintaining high longitudinal uniformity and reproducibility. Towards this goal, we report on the first experimental characterisation and beam-based validation of a 10-metre-long pulsed-DC discharge plasma source (DPS) used as an alternative to the laser-ionised rubidium vapour plasma source (VPS). The DPS reliably delivered plasma densities in three noble gases (He, Ar, Xe) at electron densities between 10$^{14}$ and 10$^{15}$ cm$^{-3}$. Proton bunch self-modulation was observed with all three gases, and the resulting modulation frequency was used as a beam-based diagnostic of the plasma density, showing good agreement with laboratory interferometry measurements. The event-to-event modulation frequency was demonstrated to be reproducible to within 0.63%, comparable to that of the VPS. These results establish the DPS as a valid alternative plasma source for beam-driven wakefield experiments, and support its further development towards longer plasma lengths. The present design is tailored to AWAKE requirements, but the underlying discharge concept provides a route to long, reproducible plasma sources with straightforward density control through discharge-beam timing for other beam-plasma experiments.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2026

Report on the Advanced Linear Collider Study Group (ALEGRO) Workshop 2026

The 7th ALEGRO workshop, hosted by INFN Frascati National Laboratories from 3rd to 5th March 2026, brought together the international Advanced Novel Accelerators (ANA) community to discuss the role of advanced wakefield accelerators (AWA) in particle and high-energy physics. Organized under the ICFA-ANA panel, the workshop highlighted recent progress in plasma- and structure-based wakefield acceleration and strengthened international collaboration toward future energy-frontier colliders. A major focus was the ongoing 10 TeV linear collider design study, launched in 2025 following the US P5 recommendations. A dedicated session covered accelerator concepts, enabling technologies, and the associated physics case, while recognizing that future priorities will depend on the outcome of the European Strategy for Particle Physics Update. The workshop also reviewed nearer-term applications of advanced accelerators, including fixed-target experiments, injectors for future colliders and light sources, plasma-based Higgs factory concepts, and proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration. Beyond high-energy physics, sessions covered free-electron lasers, synchrotron light sources, and strong-field QED. Recent demonstrations of FEL lasing with plasma-accelerated electron beams highlighted significant progress in beam quality and accelerator performance. Operational challenges for reliable user facilities, including high-availability laser and electron-beam systems, were discussed alongside the growing role of artificial intelligence and machine learning for accelerator optimization and control. This report summarizes the workshop discussions and conclusions from the chairs, together with short contributions from the presenters, providing an overview of the current status and future prospects of advanced wakefield accelerators.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2026

Experimental Demonstration of Beam-Driven Wakefield Acceleration in Laser-Plasma Filament

Self-guided femtosecond laser pulses propagating in low-pressure gas can generate plasma filaments, establishing a new framework for plasma wakefield acceleration. Unlike conventional schemes relying on mechanically confined or preformed plasma channels, this method exploits the intrinsic non-linear light-matter interaction, greatly reducing the energy required to generate plasma. This, in turn, allows to realise tunable stages, potentially operating above kHz repetition rate and with meter-scale interaction lengths and transverse sizes down to a few tens of micrometres. Moreover, the laser-plasma filament reproducibility is intrinsically higher than state-of-the-art discharge-plasmas, where the breakdown process is initiated in a stochastic and uncontrolled manner. As a result, laser-based plasma formation offers improved reliability and control over plasma parameters. Here we report a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of beam-driven wakefield acceleration of electron bunches with an accelerating field exceeding 250 MV/m in a laser-generated plasma filament. The results are cross-checked with numerical simulation, showing an excellent agreement and providing a complete picture of the physical process. Beyond particle acceleration, the concept bridges laser filamentation physics, advanced plasma photonics and compact accelerator technologies, offering a promising route towards sustainable, high-repetition-rate plasma-based facilities.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2024

Measurement of the emittance of accelerated electron bunches at the AWAKE experiment

The vertical plane transverse emittance of accelerated electron bunches at the AWAKE experiment at CERN has been determined, using three different methods of data analysis. This is a proof-of-principle measurement using the existing AWAKE electron spectrometer to validate the measurement technique. Large values of the geometric emittance, compared to that of the injection beam, are observed ($\sim \SI{0.5}{\milli\metre\milli\radian}$ compared with $\sim \SI{0.08}{\milli\metre\milli\radian}$), which is in line with expectations of emittance growth arising from plasma density ramps and large injection beam bunch size. Future iterations of AWAKE are anticipated to operate in conditions where emittance growth is better controlled, and the effects of the imaging systems of the existing and future spectrometer designs on the ability to measure the emittance are discussed. Good performance of the instrument down to geometric emittances of approximately $\SI{1e-4}{\milli\metre\milli\radian}$ is required, which may be possible with improved electron optics and imaging.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2024

Effect of Dielectric Wakefields in a Capillary Discharge for Plasma Wakefield Acceleration

Dielectric capillaries are widely used to generate plasmas for plasma wakefield acceleration. When a relativistic drive bunch travels through a capillary with misaligned trajectory with respect to the capillary axis, it is deflected by the effect of the dielectric transverse wakefields it drives. We experimentally show that the deflection effect increases along the bunch and with larger misalignment, and we investigate the decay of dielectric wakefields by measuring the effect on the front of a trailing bunch. We discuss the implications for the design of a plasma wakefield accelerator based on dielectric capillaries.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2024

Experimental Observation of Motion of Ions in a Resonantly Driven Plasma Wakefield Accelerator

We show experimentally that an effect of motion of ions, observed in a plasma-based accelerator, depends inversely on the plasma ion mass. The effect appears within a single wakefield event and manifests itself as a bunch tail, occurring only when sufficient motion of ions suppresses wakefields. Wakefields are driven resonantly by multiple bunches, and simulation results indicate that the ponderomotive force causes the motion of ions. In this case, the effect is also expected to depend on the amplitude of the wakefields, experimentally confirmed through variations in the drive bunch charge.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2024

Experimental Observation of Space-Charge Field Screening of a Relativistic Particle Bunch in Plasma

The space-charge field of a relativistic charged bunch propagating in plasma is screened due to the presence of mobile charge carriers. We experimentally investigate such screening by measuring the effect of dielectric wakefields driven by the bunch in a uncoated dielectric capillary where the plasma is confined. We show that the plasma screens the space-charge field and therefore suppresses the dielectric wakefields when the distance between the bunch and the dielectric surface is much larger than the plasma skin depth. Before full screening is reached, the effects of dielectric and plasma wakefields are present simultaneously.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Filamentation of a Relativistic Proton Bunch in Plasma

We show in experiments that a long, underdense, relativistic proton bunch propagating in plasma undergoes the oblique instability, that we observe as filamentation. We determine a threshold value for the ratio between the bunch transverse size and plasma skin depth for the instability to occur. At the threshold, the outcome of the experiment alternates between filamentation and self-modulation instability (evidenced by longitudinal modulation into microbunches). Time-resolved images of the bunch density distribution reveal that filamentation grows to an observable level late along the bunch, confirming the spatio-temporal nature of the instability. We calculate the amplitude of the magnetic field generated in the plasma by the instability and show that the associated magnetic energy increases with plasma density.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Hosing of a long relativistic particle bunch in plasma

Experimental results show that hosing of a long particle bunch in plasma can be induced by wakefields driven by a short, misaligned preceding bunch. Hosing develops in the plane of misalignment, self-modulation in the perpendicular plane, at frequencies close to the plasma electron frequency, and are reproducible. Development of hosing depends on misalignment direction, its growth on misalignment extent and on proton bunch charge. Results have the main characteristics of a theoretical model, are relevant to other plasma-based accelerators and represent the first characterization of hosing.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Development of the Self-Modulation Instability of a Relativistic Proton Bunch in Plasma

Self-modulation is a beam-plasma instability that is useful to drive large-amplitude wakefields with bunches much longer than the plasma skin depth. We present experimental results showing that, when increasing the ratio between the initial transverse size of the bunch and the plasma skin depth, the instability occurs later along the bunch, or not at all, over a fixed plasma length, because the amplitude of the initial wakefields decreases. We show cases for which self-modulation does not develop and we introduce a simple model discussing the conditions for which it would not occur after any plasma length. Changing bunch size and plasma electron density also changes the growth rate of the instability. We discuss the impact of these results on the design of a particle accelerator based on the self-modulation instability seeded by a relativistic ionization front, such as the future upgrade of the AWAKE experiment.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Techniques to seed the self-modulation instability of a long proton bunch in plasma

The Advanced Wakefield Experiment (AWAKE) at CERN relies on the seeded Self-Modulation (SM) of a long relativistic proton bunch in plasma to accelerate an externally injected MeV witness electron bunch to GeV energies. During AWAKE Run 1 (2016-2018) and Run 2a (2021-2022), two seeding methods were investigated experimentally: relativistic ionization front seeding and electron bunch seeding. In the first one, a short laser pulse copropagates within the proton bunch and ionizes the rubidium vapor, generating the plasma. In the second, a short electron bunch propagates in plasma ahead of the proton bunch and drives the seed wakefields. Both seeding methods will be further employed during AWAKE Run 2b (2023-2024) to study their effect on the SM evolution in the presence of a plasma density step. In this contribution, we will show the main experimental results and discuss their impact for the future design of the experiment, in particular for Run 2c (starting in 2028), where the plasma will be split in two sections: one dedicated to SM of the proton bunch, and the other to the electron acceleration process.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Adiabatic Focusing of a Long Proton Bunch in Plasma

We show in experiments that a long, relativistic proton bunch is focused by the plasma adiabatic response. The free plasma electrons migrate so as to neutralize the space charge field of the bunch, and the bunch is therefore focused by the azimuthal magnetic field generated by its own current, that is not balanced by the radial electric field. Since the length of the bunch is much longer than the plasma electron wavelength, the bunch also undergoes the self-modulation instability. Thus, the amplitude of the wakefields grows along the bunch and along the plasma, and the defocusing effect of the self-modulation can become dominant over the adiabatic focusing effect. We show that, when seeding the self-modulation with a preceding electron bunch, the transition between the effect of the adiabatic response and that of the self-modulation depends on the amplitude of the seed wakefields.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Mapping charge capture and acceleration in a plasma wakefield of a proton bunch using variable emittance electron beam injection

In the Phase 2 of the AWAKE first experimental run (from May to November 2018), an electron beam was used to probe and test proton-driven wakefield acceleration in a rubidium plasma column. In this work, we analyze the overall charge capture and shot-to-shot reproducibility of the proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator with various electron bunch injection parameters. The witness electron bunches were produced using an RF-gun equipped with a Cs2Te photocathode illuminated by a tailorable ultrafast deep ultraviolet (UV) laser pulse. The construction of the UV beam optical system enabled appropriate transverse beam shaping and control of its pulse duration, size, and position on the photocathode, as well as time delay with respect to the ionizing laser pulse that seeds the plasma wakefields in the proton bunches. Variable photocathode illumination provided the required flexibility to produce electron bunches with variable charge, emittance, and injection trajectory into the plasma column. We demonstrate charge capture rates exceeding 15% (40 pC of GeV accelerated charge for a 385 pC injected electron bunch) under optimized electron injection conditions.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Controlled Growth of the Self-Modulation of a Relativistic Proton Bunch in Plasma

A long, narrow, relativistic charged particle bunch propagating in plasma is subject to the self-modulation (SM) instability. We show that SM of a proton bunch can be seeded by the wakefields driven by a preceding electron bunch. SM timing reproducibility and control are at the level of a small fraction of the modulation period. With this seeding method, we independently control the amplitude of the seed wakefields with the charge of the electron bunch and the growth rate of SM with the charge of the proton bunch. Seeding leads to larger growth of the wakefields than in the instability case.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2021

Analysis of Proton Bunch Parameters in the AWAKE Experiment

A precise characterization of the incoming proton bunch parameters is required to accurately simulate the self-modulation process in the Advanced Wakefield Experiment (AWAKE). This paper presents an analysis of the parameters of the incoming proton bunches used in the later stages of the AWAKE Run 1 data-taking period. The transverse structure of the bunch is observed at multiple positions along the beamline using scintillating or optical transition radiation screens. The parameters of a model that describes the bunch transverse dimensions and divergence are fitted to represent the observed data using Bayesian inference. The analysis is tested on simulated data and then applied to the experimental data.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2021

Long range propagation of ultrafast, ionizing laser pulses in a resonant nonlinear medium

We study the propagation of 0.05-1 TW power, ultrafast laser pulses in a 10 meter long rubidium vapor cell. The central wavelength of the laser is resonant with the $D_2$ line of rubidium and the peak intensity in the $10^{12}-10^{14} ~W/cm^2$ range, enough to create a plasma channel with single electron ionization. We observe the absorption of the laser pulse for low energy, a regime of transverse confinement of the laser beam by the strong resonant nonlinearity for higher energies and the transverse broadening of the output beam when the nonlinearity is saturated due to full medium ionization. We compare experimental observations of transmitted pulse energy and transverse fluence profile with the results of computer simulations modeling pulse propagation. We find a qualitative agreement between theory and experiment that corroborates the validity of our propagation model. While the quantitative differences are substantial, the results show that the model can be used to interpret the observed phenomena in terms of self-focusing and channeling of the laser pulses by the saturable nonlinearity and the transparency of the fully ionized medium along the propagation axis.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Simulation and Experimental Study of Proton Bunch Self-Modulation in Plasma with Linear Density Gradients

We present numerical simulations and experimental results of the self-modulation of a long proton bunch in a plasma with linear density gradients along the beam path. Simulation results agree with the experimental results reported in arXiv:2007.14894v2: with negative gradients, the charge of the modulated bunch is lower than with positive gradients. In addition, the bunch modulation frequency varies with gradient. Simulation results show that dephasing of the wakefields with respect to the relativistic protons along the plasma is the main cause for the loss of charge. The study of the modulation frequency reveals details about the evolution of the self-modulation process along the plasma. In particular for negative gradients, the modulation frequency across time-resolved images of the bunch indicates the position along the plasma where protons leave the wakefields. Simulations and experimental results are in excellent agreement.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2021

Seeding of proton bunch self-modulation by an electron bunch in plasma

The AWAKE experiment relies on the self-modulation instability of a long proton bunch to effectively drive wakefields and accelerate an electron bunch to GeV-level energies. During the first experimental run (2016-2018) the instability was made phase reproducible by means of a seeding process: a short laser pulse co-propagates within the proton bunch in a rubidium vapor. Thus, the fast creation of plasma and the onset of beam-plasma interaction within the bunch drives seed wakefields. However, this seeding method leaves the front of the bunch not modulated. The bunch front could self-modulate in a second, preformed plasma and drive wakefields that would interfere with those driven by the (already self-modulated) back of the bunch and with the acceleration process. We present studies of the seeded the self-modulation (SSM) of a long proton bunch using a short electron bunch. The short seed bunch is placed ahead of the proton bunch leading to self-modulation of the entire bunch. Numerical simulations show that this method have other advantages when compared to the ionization front method. We discuss the requirements for the electron bunch parameters (charge, emittance, transverse size at the focal point, length), to effectively seed the self-modulation process. We also present preliminary experimental studies on the electron bunch seed wakefields generation.

physics.acc-ph↗