The AWAKE project — the world’s first proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator experiment — will soon end Phase 2 of its first experimental Run at the end of 2018, when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) begin their Long Shutdown 2. Success in the wor

Novel scheme paves way for entirely new range of particle physics experiments In a paper published today in the journal Nature, the AWAKE collaboration reports the first ever successful acceleration of electrons at CERN, using a wave generated by protons zipping through a plasma. The

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, th

AWAKE is a unique experiment at CERN using the high power SPS proton beam to drive large electric fields in a plasma in order to accelerate an externally injected electron beam. The Cockcroft Institute through the Universities of Lancaster, Liverpool and Manchester has contributed to

First beam enters the AWAKE experiment at CERN The Advanced Proton Driven Plasma Wakefield Acceleration Experiment (AWAKE) aims at studying plasma wakefield generation and electron acceleration driven by proton bunches. It is a proof-of-principle R&D experiment at CERN and the wor

High energy particle beams with extreme luminosities and ultra-bright beams of energetic radiation are ubiquitous tools for studying the structure of matter in a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Last century saw huge progress in the development of very efficient radio-freque