Dielectric Laser Acceleration: From proof of principle experiments to machine learning-based diagnostics

by Mr Thilo Egenolf

Monday 1 Dec 2025, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/Zurich

WBGB/020

Dielectric Laser Acceleration (DLA) is a promising approach for compact electron accelerators, achieving accelerating gradients far beyond those of conventional radiofrequency cavities. Dielectric nanostructures shape the near-fields of ultrashort laser pulses to accelerate and manipulate electron beams.

Over the past decade, DLA research has evolved from proof-of-principle experiments to record gradients in the gigavolt-per-meter range. Beyond acceleration, beam focusing has been realized within the nanostructures by applying the concept of alternating phase focusing, with two-dimensional confinement demonstrated experimentally and three-dimensional confinement predicted theoretically.

As interaction lengths increase, advanced laser pulse shaping becomes essential to maintain synchronization and beam quality. A key remaining challenge lies in diagnostics at the same scale as the accelerating structures. This talk presents an overview of past and recent progress and outlines how dielectric-based, machine-learning-assisted diagnostics could close this gap and enable the next generation of miniature laser-driven accelerators.