A plasma wakefield acceleration experiment using CLARA beam

We propose a Plasma Accelerator Research Station (PARS) based at proposed FEL test facility CLARA (Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications) at Daresbury Laboratory. The idea is to use the relativistic electron beam from CLARA, to investigate some key issues in electron beam transport and in electron beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration, e.g. high gradient plasma wakefield excitation driven by a relativistic electron bunch, two bunch experiment for CLARA beam energy doubling, high transformer ratio, long bunch self-modulation and some other advanced beam dynamics issues. This paper presents the feasibility studies of electron beam transport to meet the requirements for beam driven wakefield acceleration and presents the plasma wakefield simulation results based on CLARA beam parameters. Other possible experiments which can be conducted at the PARS beam line are also discussed.