Beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA) is one of the prime candidates for complementing conventional lepton accelerator technology in the future, due to its high achievable accelerating gradients and the resulting prospects of compact and energy-efficient acceleration stages. As one of few facilities worldwide, the FLASH linac at DESY is hosting a PWFA experimental area, the FLASHForward beamline. To complement and prepare beam experiments, a dedicated laboratory for plasma sources research, the ADVANCE lab, has been set up at DESY. In this talk, a brief overview of the facilities will be given and the current status of PWFA research at DESY will be discussed. Based on the experiences made at DESY, some comments will be made on the prospects and requirements of a plasma wakefield acceleration stage.
For details contact Martin Paraliev