Third party funded individual grant
Acronym: AccelOnChip
Start date : 01.10.2020
End date : 30.09.2025
Particle accelerators that propel fundamental particles to very high speeds have opened a new window to the building blocks of the universe. Currently, almost all ground-breaking revelations have come from the very few and very large particle accelerators around the world. Shrinking these devices to hand-held portable systems will not only make them accessible to thousands of labs, thus accelerating research, but also pave the way for important applications in fields ranging from healthcare and security to environmental protection. The EU-funded AccelOnChip project is on its way to delivering a miniature particle accelerator on an integrated photonics chip. This work will revolutionise accelerator-based research and applications, placing Europe at the forefront of an emerging scientific and technological field of high socio-economic relevance.
Resting on our demonstration of laser-driven nanophotonics-based
particle acceleration, we propose to build a miniature particle
accelerator on a photonic chip, comprising high gradient acceleration
and fully optical field-based electron control. The resulting electron
beam has outstanding space-time properties: It is bunched on
sub-femtosecond timescales, is nanometres wide and coherent. We aim at
utilizing this new form of all-optical free electron control in a broad
research program with five exciting objectives:
(1) Build a 5 MeV accelerator on a photonic chip in a shoebox-sized vessel,
(2) Perform ultrafast diffraction with attosecond and even zeptosecond electron pulses,
(3) Generate photons on chip at various wavelengths (IR to x-ray),
(4) Couple quantum-coherently electron wavepackets and light in multiple interaction zones, and
(5) Conduct radiobiological experiments, akin to the new FLASH radiotherapy and Microbeam cell treat-ment.
AccelOnChip
will enable five science objectives potentially shifting the horizons
of today’s knowledge and capabilities around ultrafast electron imaging,
photon generation, (quantum) electron-light coupling, and radiotherapy
dramatically. Moreover, AccelOnChip promises to democratize
accelerators: the accelerator on a chip will be based on inexpensive
nanofabrication technology. We foresee that every university lab can
have access to particle and light sources, today only accessible at
large facilities. Last, AccelOnChip will take decisive steps towards an
ultracompact electron beam radiation device to be put into the tip of a
catheter, a potentially disruptive radiation therapy device facilitating
new treatment forms. AccelOnChip is a cross-disciplinary high risk/high
return project combining and benefiting nanophotonics, accelerator
science, ultra-fast physics, materials science, coherent light-matter
coupling, light generation, and radiology - and is based on my group’s
unique expertise acquired in recent years.