The AWAKE project — the world’s first proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator experiment – has just entered Phase 2 of its first Run, due to be completed by the end of 2018. Results from the first year have been overwhelmingly positive.
On the 12th, 13th and 14th of March, the Cockcroft Institute was host to the Spring 2018 AWAKE Collaboration meeting. It presented a great opportunity for teams and researchers from the 36 institutions from across the globe that make up the AWAKE Collaboration to discuss the challenges and successes of the past year, as well as plans and prospects looking forward all the way to 2021.
Participants at the Spring 2018 AWAKE Collaboration Meeting.
After a welcome note by the Spokesperson Allen Caldwell, followed by summaries from the Technical and Physics Coordinators, the rest of Monday comprised of presentations of experimental results of the last year.
Tuesday’s talks were predominantly on challenges facing implementation of the electron injector for Phase 2 in 2018, following reflections on the achievements of Phase 1 in the past year. The day concluded with a banquet dinner at Ruthin Castle in North Wales, in a night enjoyed to the utmost by PhD students and seasoned academics alike.
Wednesday’s agenda looked further into the future with presentations of simulation studies into solving some of the challenges seen over the previous days and towards further improving the potential of AWAKE.
It was an exciting three days with both world-leading experts and budding researchers in accelerator science and plasma physics in one place, planning and discussing what could very likely be the first step in a revolution in particle accelerators for the 21st Century.