Hooker, S.M.S.M.HookerBartolini, R.R.BartoliniMangles, S.P.D.S.P.D.ManglesTünnermann, A.A.TünnermannCorner, L.L.CornerLimpert, J.J.LimpertSeryi, A.A.SeryiWalczak, R.R.Walczak2022-03-042022-03-042014https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/23787010.1088/0953-4075/47/23/234003Laser-driven plasma accelerators can generate accelerating gradients three orders of magnitude larger than radio-frequency accelerators and have achieved beam energies above 1 GeV in centimetre long stages. However, the pulse repetition rate and wall-plug efficiency of laser plasma accelerators is limited by the driving laser to less than approximately 1 Hz and 0.1% respectively. Here we investigate the prospects for exciting the plasma wave with trains of low-energy laser pulses rather than a single high-energy pulse. Resonantly exciting the wakefield in this way would enable the use of different technologies, such as fibre or thin-disc lasers, which are able to operate at multi-kilohertz pulse repetition rates and with wall-plug efficiencies two orders of magnitude higher than current laser systems. We outline the parameters of efficient, GeV-scale, 10 kHz plasma accelerators and show that they could drive compact x-ray sources with average photon fluxes comparable to those of third-generation light source but with significantly improved temporal resolution. Likewise free-electron laser (FEL) operation could be driven with comparable peak power but with significantly larger repetition rates than extant FELs.enaccelerationelectronfree electron laserlaser produced plasmalight source530Multi-Pulse Laser Wakefield Acceleration: A New Route to Efficient, High-Repetition-Rate Plasma Accelerators and High Flux Radiation Sourcesjournal article