Numerical studies of Self Modulation Instability in the beam-driven plasma wakefield experiments

Abstract

Proton beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration was recently proposed as a way to bring electrons to TeV energy range in a single plasma section. When the ultra-relativistic long proton beam propagates into the plasmas, this bunch splits into many small bunches. This phenomenon is known as a Self-Modulation Instability (SMI), and its characteristics depend on the ratio of bunch length and plasma wavelength. In this study, we first introduce a Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code WARP, focusing on the basis of parallel version structure. Through numerical simulations using the WARP, we investigate the characteristics of the SMI and propose possible experimental setup at the Injector Test Facility (ITF) of Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL). Also, we present dependencies of the witness beam quality on both the driver beam and plasma parameters.