Nearly 70 members of the Advanced Proton Driven Plasma Wakefield Acceleration Experiment (AWAKE) project attended the 54th AWAKE collaboration meeting at CERN between 6 - 8 November 2024. The three days were split into sub-sessions related to status of Run 2b, experimental results, simulation updates on Run 2c and future planning and discussions.
The international AWAKE collaboration is made up of 23 institutes and involving almost 100 researchers. The UK is a major contributor to the collaboration, with seven institutions supported by the STFC-funded AWAKE-UK project.
The AWAKE concept was demonstrated for the first time in 2018. The second phase of the experiment, to develop proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration towards particle physics applications, started in 2021 and is expected to run until 2030.
Edda Gschwendtner, AWAKE project leader, welcomed attendees to the meeting. This was followed by a comprehensive introduction from Patric Muggli, AWAKE spokesperson, who provided an overview of the project's current status and upcoming diagnostic integration plans.
New Master Schedule for CNGS Target Area Dismantling and AWAKE.
The remaining talks of the day focused on the measurement of plasma density step, microbunch behaviour, and plasma self-modulation. The next day primarily centered around the results and simulation updates from Run 2b, and the final day of the meeting was dedicated to discussions on the planning, schedules, and milestones for Run 2c.
10 m long discharge plasma source installed in the AWAKE facility. The discharge plasma light of the DPS filled with Argon/Xenon/Helium in the first/second/third picture is measured. (source: https://cds.cern.ch/record/2912380/files/document.pdf)
The next AWAKE collaboration meeting will take place in March 2025, this time in Garching, Germany.