[text copied from previous AWAKE page - needs much more. could be based on the presentation given to PSI]
[depending on the level/details of the explanation, it can be eitehr (or both if level in between) be a "go deeper" page following the "AWAKE for general public" or the "AWAKE for scientists"]
[intro, recap]
The construction of ever larger and costlier accelerator facilities has its limits, and new technologies are needed to push the energy frontier. Plasma Wakefield (*) acceleration is a rapidly developing field and a promising technology for future high-energy accelerators. The AWAKE project is a proof-of-principle demonstration experiment that will use the energy of CERN's 400GeV proton beam (**) in a plasma wakefield to accelerate electrons to the TeV energy regime.
AWAKE is the world’s first proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment. Besides demonstrating how protons can be used to generate wakefields, AWAKE will also develop the necessary technologies for long-term, proton-driven plasma acceleration projects.
AWAKE is an international scientific collaboration made up of 18 institutes and 2 associate institutes and involving over 80 engineers and physicists (November 2017).
AWAKE first accelerated electrons in the plasma wakefield of a proton bunch in May 2018, a world's first.
Notes:
(*) A plasma wakefield is a type of wave generated by particles travelling through a plasma. AWAKE sends proton beams through plasma cells to generate these fields. By harnessing wakefields, physicists may be able to produce accelerator gradients hundreds of times higher than those achieved in current radiofrequency cavities. This would allow future colliders to achieve higher energies over shorter distances than is possible today.
(**) AWAKE uses proton beams from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) in the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso (CNGS) facility (see image above for proposed location). These protons are injected into a 10-metre plasma cell to initiate strong wakefields. A second beam – the “witness” electron beam – will then be accelerated by the wakefields, gaining up to several gigavolts of energy.
[showing the basic AWAKE principles]
