Summary
In my research, I use intense laser-plasma interactions to create new kinds of compact particle accelerators and X-ray light sources, and I exploit the unique properties of these sources to explore the physics of extreme conditions.
Particle accelerators are well known as important tools of scientific discovery, but they are large and expensive machines. The laser wakefield acceleration technique I research now allows high-energy particle and X-ray beams to be produced in a university size laboratory. Using these accelerators we can now produce multi-GeV electron beams in a plasma accelerator just a few centimetres long (something which a conventional accelerator can only achieve in one hundred metres or more).
The unique properties of the beams that laser wakefield accelerators produce, together with their co-location and easy synchronization with other high-power laser sources, are now helping to drive a new generation of experiments. These experiments aim to understand how matter behaves under extreme conditions – extremely high temperatures, densities and electromagnetic field intensities compared to anything found on Earth, but conditions that are surprisingly common and important throughout the universe.
Publications
Journals
Watt RA, Rose SJ, Kettle B, et al., 2023, Monte Carlo modeling of the linear Breit-Wheeler process within the geant4 framework, Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, Vol:26, ISSN:2469-9888, Pages:1-7
Streeter MJV, Colgan C, Cobo CC, et al., 2023, Laser Wakefield Accelerator modelling with Variational Neural Networks, High Power Laser Science and Engineering
Streeter MJV, Ma Y, Kettle B, et al., 2022, Characterization of laser wakefield acceleration efficiency with octave spanning near-IR spectrum measurements, Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, Vol:25
Maitrallain A, Brunetti E, Streeter MJ, et al., 2022, Parametric study of high-energy ring-shaped electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator, New Journal of Physics, Vol:24, ISSN:1367-2630
Conference
Fox MFJ, Bland S, Mangles SPD, et al., 2022, Expectations of how student views on experimental physics develop during an undergraduate degree, Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), AMER ASSOC PHYSICS TEACHERS, Pages:182-187, ISSN:2377-2379