Science and Technology Facilities Council
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10 years on, landmark Nature paper still hits the mark
In 2004, Nature published an article featuring work done on the Central Laser Facility’s Astra laser by an international collaboration of scientists from Imperial College London, the University of Strathclyde, UCLA and our Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Entitled ‘Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser-plasma interactions’, the paper published experimental observations that were a pivotal milestone in plasma-based particle acceleration. Published alongside two other groups reporting on the same topic, the results were featured on the journal’s front cover and received wide coverage. The ‘dream beam’ was the future of accelerator science.
Fast forward ten years, and the dream beam (now known as laser wakefield acceleration), has been widely explored. CLF’s Gemini laser is regularly used for experiments that study and optimise this mechanism, which has enormous potential. The original, landmark paper has now been cited (referred to) by 1000 others – a coveted academic milestone, and a sign of the work’s enduring importance.
Professor Norreys says: "I am delighted that this result has had such a resounding influence on current day research. The result has spurred the physics community world-wide to explore the fascinating science behind ultra-intense laser interaction with matter. This is due to the wide range of potential applications in other areas of science and industry, including ultra-bright X-ray sources for medical imaging and compact laser technologies. I am very proud that this world-first was achieved at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. It is a true reflection of the world-class standing of STFC's Central Laser Facility."STFC’s Professor Peter Norreys won the 2013 Payne-Gaposchkin Medal and Prize for his “pioneering contributions to the physics of fast particle generation and energy transport in relativistic laser-plasma interactions”, which include his role in the work described in the paper.
Dr Stuart Mangles (John Adams Institute and Imperial College London), lead author of the article, explains: “Those early results really showed that the dream of compact, university or hospital laboratory scale particle accelerators might really be possible. Now with Astra Gemini at RAL, we are able to produce GeV electron beams in just one centimetre and create X-rays that we are investigating using for biomedical imaging and probing matter under the extremely high temperatures and pressures that occur inside stars and planets
