Laser guiding of electron beams in the advanced test acceleration

The recently demonstrated technique of laser guiding has been used to propagate successfully a 10-kA relativistic electron beam 95 m through the Advanced Test Accelerator and postaccelerator beamline. The maximum transverse displacement of the beam at the end of the Advanced Test Accelerator was 1 mm while the maximum beam breakup amplitude was 0.1 mm. The use of laser guiding constitutes a breakthrough in accelerator technology in that it is able to reduce greatly or even suppress the beam breakup instability, which is the most serious obstacle to high-current beam transport in linear induction accelerators.