Demonstration of the Hollow Channel Plasma Wakefield Accelerator

Over the past decade, there has been enormous progress in the field of beam and laser-driven plasma acceleration of electron beams. However, in order for plasma wakefield acceleration to be useful for a high-energy e⁺e⁻ collider, we need a technique for accelerating positrons in plasma as well. This is a unique challenge, because the plasma responds differently to electron and positron beams, with plasma electrons being pulled through the positron beam and creating a non-linear focusing force. Here, we demonstrate a technique called hollow channel acceleration that symmetrizes the wakefield response to beams of either charge. Using a transversely shaped laser pulse, we create an annular plasma with a fixed radius of 200 μm. We observe the acceleration of a positron bunch with energies up to 33.4 MeV in a 25 cm long channel, indicating an effective gradient greater than 100 MeV/m. This is the first demonstration of a technique that way be used for staged acceleration of positron beams in plasma.