An overview of plasma-based accelerators and light sources

What is the origin of space, time, and matter? What happens when matter is subject toextreme conditions of pressure and temperature? Can we visualize and control thenano-world? Particle accelerators and light sources have become instrumental inaddressing these long-standing scientific challenges.

Because they can sustain muchhigher electric fields than conventional materials, plasmas promise a new generationof more compact, sustainable, and less expensive particle accelerators and lightsources. They are a high research priority in the 2020 update of the European Strategyfor Particle Physics and are being progressively incorporated into the main activities oflarge-scale laser facilities and accelerator laboratories.

The intrinsic miniaturization inplasma acceleration brings unique challenges. Addressing them is an essential part ofthe research agenda. These challenges are multidisciplinary, and their solutiondepends on an integrated approach combining theory, simulation, and experimentalphysics.

This talk will present an overview of these challenges, along with recentaccomplishments and perspectives for the future of plasma-based accelerators andlight sources for applications in high-energy physics, high-energy density science, andphoton science.