AWAKE Collaboration meets in Uppsala
The Advanced Proton Driven Plasma Wakefield Acceleration Experiment (AWAKE) is proof-of-principle experiment investigating the use of plasma wakefields driven by a proton bunch to accelerate charged particles. The project, based at CERN and carried out by an international collaboration, is expected to run in different phases until 2030.
On 25 – 26 April 2023 the AWAKE Collaboration held its bi-annual meeting at the Ångström Laboratory of Uppsala University (Sweden), hosted by Kevin Pepitone.
The group discussed a range a topics covering the entire AWAKE project. This included but was not limited to: novel plasma sources and immanent measurements; new results on the complex interplay of plasma wakefields and the high energy proton driver used to produce them; developments on the new electron beamline for the future runs of AWAKE; plans for the decommissioning of the radioactive CNGS area to provide space for a future extension of AWAKE; and studies on the high power laser used to generate the AWAKE plasma. Dr. Joseph Wolfenden of the Quasar Group also presented the latest results from a range of novel beam diagnostics which will prove critical to the future of AWAKE.
AWAKE group visit to FREIA (photo courtesy of J. Wolfenden)
The meeting included a visit to FREIA (Facility for Research Instrumentation and Accelerator Development) at Uppsala University.
The Cockcroft Institute has been a key partner in the experiment from the start, with partners from the Universities of Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester and Strathclyde covering the planning and optimization of the experiment, R&D into beyond state-of-the-art diagnostics for the different laser and particle beams, as well as studies into enhanced electron beam generation.