Special Feature

Podcast: A Milestone in Laser-Plasma Acceleration

Physics 17, 185
Researchers from the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator Center talk about their latest results on a laser-based particle-acceleration technique that could lead to cheaper and more compact x-ray sources and particle accelerators.

LISTEN HERE, ON APPLE PODCASTS, OR ON SPOTIFY.

In this episode of This is Physics, podcast host Julie Gould and the Physics Magazine Editor speak with the authors of work highlighted in the magazine (see Viewpoint: Electrons Channel Surf to Ultrahigh Energies) [1]. The researchers, working with the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator Center (BELLA), share sounds and experiences from their laboratory, explain how they achieved a new laser-acceleration milestone, and discuss their plans for the future.

Podcast host Julie Gould and Physics Magazine Editor Matteo Rini speak with Alexander Picksley and Joshua Stackhouse of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Music credit: Lunga by Sofia Ribeiro. Sofia is a singer, composer, and educator from Portugal. She taught at Bobby McFerrin’s CircleSongSchool and was an artist in residence at Carnegie Hall in New York.

–Julie Gould

Julie Gould is a freelance science journalist and podcast producer based in London.

–Matteo Rini

Matteo Rini is the Editor of Physics Magazine.

References

  1. A. Picksley et al., “Matched guiding and controlled injection in dark-current-free, 10-GeV-class, channel-guided laser-plasma accelerators,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 255001 (2024).

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