CERN

AWAKE, the Advanced Wakefield Experiment, is a particle-physics research collaboration at CERN exploring a new approach to accelerating electrons. Its work focuses on proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration, a technique that could make future particle accelerators more compact while reaching high energies. Unlike earlier wakefield experiments driven by electrons or lasers, AWAKE uses proton beams to generate waves in plasma. Electrons injected into these waves can gain energy over a comparatively short distance.

In 2018, the collaboration reported the first successful acceleration of electrons using a proton-driven plasma wave: electrons gained energy from about 19 MeV to nearly 2 GeV over 10 metres. This demonstrated an average acceleration gradient of around 200 MV/m. AWAKE’s research programme also examines whether the method can be scaled and whether the resulting beams can meet the intensity and quality needed for high-energy physics experiments. Following tests of an upgraded plasma source, the project is preparing for a second phase of data taking, with a long-term aim of achieving gradients of 1000 MV/m.