Abstract

As particle accelerators have moved to higher and higher energies their size has increased proportionately and is largely dictated, at least in linear machines, by the electrical breakdown of the accelerating cavities. To avoid continuing escalation of accelerator size the high-energy physics community has recently been attracted by the large electric fields in focused laser beams as a means of reducing the physical size of an accelerator. The electric field is not the only criterion of merit for particle accelerators since the ultimate desire is to collide opposing beams of particles and antiparticles. To achieve a high luminosity in the interaction region requires that each beam be very tightly focusable; i.e., it must have a very small phase space volume or emittance, and since the electrical power costs of a large accelerator are not negligible, the accelerator should also be reasonably efficient.

© 1986 Optical Society of America