Breakthrough Miniature Accelerator

[sanman]

This was published in Nature, so it seems credible enough:

http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphys2071.html

Laser plasma accelerators1 have produced high-quality electron beams with GeV energies from cm-scale devices2 and are being investigated as hyperspectral fs light sources producing THz to γ-ray radiation3, 4, 5, and as drivers for future high-energy colliders6, 7. These applications require a high degree of stability, beam quality and tunability. Here we report on a technique to inject electrons into the accelerating field of a laser-driven plasma wave and coupling of this injector to a lower-density, separately tunable plasma for further acceleration. The technique relies on a single laser pulse powering a plasma structure with a tailored longitudinal density profile, to produce beams that can be tuned in the range of 100– 400 MeV with per-cent-level stability, using laser pulses of less than 40 TW. The resulting device is a simple stand-alone accelerator or the front end for a multistage higher-energy accelerator.

So could this thing be used to help achieve an Accelerator-Driven Reactor System?

Can this thing generate high-energy light for nuclear applications? Perhaps to explore nucleonic transitions?

Could it be used for generating a powerful ion-beam or proton-beam, as a spallation source in an ADRS?

What are the applications here?

 

[ZapperZ]

Huh?

"accelerator-driven reactor" has never had issues with beam energy. There's enough energy in the current technology for it to be used. So why would such application use something this exotic? And note the BEAM SIZE that one of these could use. If you're talking about YIELD, would you use a micron size beam?

Advanced accelerator techniques such as this are mainly for achieving the next level of energy for particle collider at a lower cost that won't bankrupt a small nation.

Zz.