ICTS

Particle accelerators have been instrumental in unraveling some of the deep questions related to matter at the fundamental level, the latest being discovery of the Higgs Boson. The conventional accelerators, however, have reached their limit in terms of size and energy, as acceleration gradients in the state of art accelerators have reached the material breakdown limit (~ MV/cm). A new principle of particle acceleration is desirable at this juncture. A strong candidate for this is the plasma wake field based acceleration (driven by lasers and/or particle beams). This scheme provides a promise of about thousand fold increase in the acceleration gradient (~ GV/cm). Furthermore, plasma being already a broken down medium, does not get adversely effected by such huge electric fields. This paves a way for building table top compact accelerators for electron as well as ion beams which can make crucial contributions to our fundamental understanding of matter and would have applications in many areas such as medical, security, imaging etc.

This program will cover a series of pedagogical lectures on the status and future of this new technology. In addition, a focused program on exploring collaborative activities on theoretical aspects of laser-plasma interactions in general (partly supported by the UK-India Newton-Bhabha funds) is also planned. Brain storming discussion sessions to look into possible near and long term challenges in high energy physics would be conducted. Other applications in the field of medical, security and imaging would be discussed. Moreover, looking at the pace of development in laser intensity, possibility of exploring new physics such as radiation reaction effects, pair production etc., in laboratory experiments would soon become a reality. Keeping these excitements in view, a planned activity at national level will be explored.

Announcement

• Students, post docs and young researchers interested in participating in the program may send their CV along with a brief (100 words) statement on their interest in the program by 5th of Feb at the email id: lpa2017@icts.res.in
• The selection for participation would be conveyed by 10th of Feb.