Plasma wake-field acceleration of high energies: Physics and perspectives

Requirements of high-energy physics impose some restrictions on parameters of future plasma-based accelerators; these restrictions are analyzed for the accelerator driven by particle beams. With two-dimensional simulations of driver dynamics it is shown that properly prepared 10 GeV electron driver can accelerate up to 5 x 10(9) particles with energy gain of about 10 GeV in 10 m long plasma section and with energy spread less than 5%. On the basis of these simulations, the draft concept of high-gradient linear collider of TeV-range energy is briefly considered. To prove the possibility of precise driver handling and to test simulation results, the experiment is under preparation at Budker Institute? Novosibirsk. The modulated electron beam (0.8 GeV) is expected to excite the electric field up to 0.5 GeV/m at the distance of about 1m. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.