AWAKE: the proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator experiment at CERN

AWAKE: the proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator experiment at CERN In order to achieve affordable and compact high-energy particle accelerators, machines with high accelerating gradients and high efficiency is necessary. The beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerator is a novel accelerator technique being developed for this purpose. The field has recently seen a rapid experimental progress. The AWAKE experiment at CERN is the first proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator experiment. It uses the self-modulation instability (SMI) to transform the 12 cm long, 400 GeV proton bunch from the SPS into a train of bunches spaced by the plasma wavelength (~ 1mm). The train can then resonantly drive GV/m fields that can be used to accelerate electrons over 10s to 100s of meters. The first experiments started in December 2016 aiming at measuring the parameters of the p+ bunch after it has experienced the SMI in a 10 m long rubidium plasma with an electron density in the 1-10e14/cm3 range. The principle of SMI physics, the experimental goals and first experimental results will be presented. We also briefly discuss future plans for AWAKE, as well as ideas for high-energy physics applications.