When a laser pulse is shot through this plasma, it pushes electrons in front of it in a wave. This creates relativistic, broadband radiation that duplicates that from the Van Allen belts.

Laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) propel particles to high energies over short distances using intense, ultrashort pulses of laser light. These accelerators can supply high-quality particle beams for ...

Apr 29, 2025, 8:00 AM ET TAU Systems: ultra-fast compact laser-plasma accelerator TAU Systems: Particles Test TAU Systems: Radiation Testing space bound electronics Funding to expedite building ...

They combined two plasma-based acceleration methods for electrons, namely a laser-driven wakefield accelerator (LWFA) with a particle-beam-driven wakefield accelerator (PWFA).

Laser-plasma accelerators take up less space than conventional facilities, which are sometimes kilometers long. Such compact particle sources can accelerate electron bunches efficiently, enabling ...

How it works: electrons accelerated by a laser pulse (left) are used to drive the second-stage particle accelerator (right). (Courtesy: Thomas Heinemann/Strathclyde and Alberto Martinez de la ...

Researchers used novel laser-plasma-based accelerators to mimic the radiation, which presents a risk to astronauts and space technology owing to the lack of protection from it in space.

Plasma, the state in which nearly all of the universe exists, can support electric fields that are 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than in conventional accelerators, simply by separating the positive ...

They are seen as highly promising research tools: laser-plasma accelerators take up less space than conventional facilities, which are sometimes kilometers long. Such compact particle sources can ...