Studying and applying channeling at extremely high bunch charges

The potentially high plasma densities possible in solids might produce extremely high acceleration gradients. However, solid-state plasmas could pose daunting challenges. Crystal channeling has been suggested as a mechanism to ameliorate these problems. A high-density plasma in a crystal lattice could quench the channeling process. There is no experimental or theoretical guidance on channeling for intense charged particle beams. An experiment has been carried out at the Fermilab A0 photoinjector to observe electron channeling radiation at high bunch charges. An electron beam with up to 8 nC per electron bunch was used to investigate the electron-crystal interaction. No evidence was found of quenching of channeling at charge densities two orders of magnitude larger than in earlier experiments. Possible new channeling experiments are discussed for the much higher bunch charge densities and shorter times required to probe channeling breakdown and plasma behavior.