Plasma Acceleration Experiments with SMARPODs

Laser-Plasma Accelerators have the potential to become the next-generation technique for the acceleration of electrons. This technique allows these charged particles to be accelerated in a smaller space, thus making the systems more compact. Synchrotron facilities around the world are participating in the progress of this technology.
Two non-magnetic SMARPODs are in use in the interaction chamber of the REGAE Beamline at DESY in order to investigate Laser-Plasma Acceleration. Working at ultra-high vacuum conditions
(10-9 mbar) and in high-magnetic fields, those SmarPods have been specially designed in cooperation with the scientists working on this project. Both SMARPODs are capable to carry a load of 1.7 kg and offer a travel range of 149 mm, 49 mm and 2.8 mm in X, Y, and Z, respectively, in order to align a Solenoid and a gas supply stage in six degrees of freedom accurately with a resolution of a single nanometer.