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Precision alignment and tolerance of a plasma wakefield accelerator in a laser-ionized plasma source

Valentina Lee1,*, Robert Ariniello2, Douglas Storey2, Sébastien Corde2,3, Claudio Emma2, Spencer Gessner2, Mark Hogan2, Alexander Knetsch2, Nathan Majernik2 et al.

Brendan O’Shea2, Ivan Rajkovic2, and Michael Litos1

  • *Contact author: valentina.lee@colorado.edu
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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 29, 041001 – Published 3 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tgby-pksc

Abstract

We present a novel method to align a laser-ionized plasma source with ultrarelativistic electron beams in a plasma wakefield accelerator. The technique relies on analyzing plasma afterglow light at two longitudinal positions as the plasma column is scanned across the beam axis. Using this method, we aligned an 85-cm plasma source to a 10-GeV, 1.6-nC electron beam with better than 10−μm transverse offset and 10−μrad angular error. The alignment was validated by measuring the drive beam energy loss, beam-to-wake energy transfer efficiency, and witness beam energy gain as functions of intentional misalignment. From these measurements, we determined the alignment tolerances required between the laser-ionized plasma source and the electron beams, an essential parameter for the design of plasma-based colliders and advanced light sources.

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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 29, 041001– Published 3 April, 2026
  • Received 18 September 2025
  • Accepted 4 February 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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