More control over plasma accelerators
If one particle accelerator alone is not enough to achieve the desired result, why not combine two accelerators? Physicists have now implemented this idea. They combined two plasma-based acceleration methods for electrons, namely a laser-driven wakefield accelerator (LWFA) with a particle-beam-driven wakefield accelerator (PWFA). With this combination, the physicists achieve better stability and higher particle density for electron beams than with just a single plasma accelerator. The innovative concept therefore opens up new perspectives for plasma-based particle acceleration.