Hybrid Laser-Plasma Wakefield Acceleration

The concept of driving a driver/witness-type plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA) with quasimonoenergetic double electron bunches from a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) is studied. In the quasimonoenergetic LWFA/SMLWFA (self-modulated LWFA) regime, it is possible to generate multiple quasimonoenergetic electron bunches with durations of only a few fs and distances of only a few tens of fs with a comparably simple experimental setup. In a subsequent high-density plasma afterburner stage the witness bunch energy can be boosted in the plasma wakefield generated by the driver. Such a hybrid system can increase the maximum energy output of a laser wakefield accelerator and is well suited to study driver/witness plasma accelerator phenomena and can be used as a cost-effective test-bed for future high-energy plasma-based accelerators.