Laser–plasma wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) can provide accelerating gradients exceeding 100 GV/m, providing a pathway to reduce the size and cost of future high-energy accelerators for applications in synchrotron radiation, free-electron lasers, and emerging medical and industrial uses.
Scaling this technology to higher beam energies and charges requires both technological maturity and innovative acceleration schemes. Multi-stage configurations — connecting several plasma acceleration stages — offer key advantages: increasing beam energy beyond single-cell limits and enhancing total charge and/or repetition rate. These systems aim to overcome single-stage limitations while maintaining or improving beam quality at higher energies.
Designing an accelerator delivering stable, reproducible, high-quality beams requires comprehensive understanding of plasma acceleration physics and beam transport between successive stages.
Building on expertise at CEA Paris–Saclay's DACM, this PhD will focus on physical and numerical studies to propose a fully integrated multi-stage LWFA design, with particular attention to optimizing all components — plasma accelerating section and transport lines — to preserve beam quality in terms of transverse size, divergence, emittance, and energy spread.