Energy-transport channels in a plasma accelerator

Plasma accelerators offer the potential to drastically shrink high-energy machines with their orders-of-magnitude higher accelerating gradients over state-of-the-art radio-frequency (RF) machines. To make this disruptive technology competitive with RF technology the plasma-acceleration process must be repeated many thousands of times per second. Due to inherent energy-transfer inefficiencies in the plasma-acceleration process, a non-negligible amount of energy will be deposited in the plasma after each accelerating event. If no remedial measures are taken, this accumulation of heat will lead to undesired changes in the plasma-acceleration process and ultimately damage the surrounding infrastructure. Unfortunately relatively little is known about how this energy is transported within the system after the conclusion of each plasma-acceleration event. This project will develop numerical and diagnostic tools to map comprehensively the energy-transport channels in a plasma accelerator, making it ready for future application to high-energy-physics and photon-science applications.