wave is formed: plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA): The electron plasma wave is formed by an electron or proton bunch. laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA): A laser pulse is introduced to form an electron plasma wave. laser beat-wave acceleration (LBWA): The electron plasma wave arises based on different frequency generation of two laser pulses. The "Surfatron" is an improvement on this technique. self-modulated laser wakefield acceleration (SMLWFA): The formation of an electron plasma wave is achieved by a laser pulse modulated by stimulated Raman forward scattering instability. The first experimental demonstration of wakefield acceleration, which was performed with PWFA, was reported by a research group at Argonne National Laboratory in 1988. Formula The acceleration gradient for a linear plasma wave is: In this equation, is the electric field, is the speed of light in vacuum, is the mass of the electron, is the plasma electron density (in particles per metre cubed), and is the permittivity of free space. Experimental laboratories Currently, plasma-based particle accelerators are in the proof of concept phase at the following institutions: Argonne National Laboratory INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati Centre for Advanced Laser Applications, LMU Munich Helmholtz Institute Jena Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory UCLA Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory United States Naval Research Laboratory Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics University of Michigan Chalk River Laboratories Texas Petawatt Laser, University of Texas at Austin Advanced Laser-Plasma High-energy Accelerators towards X-rays (ALPHA-X) beam line at the University of Strathclyde Scottish Centre for the Application of Plasma-based Accelerators (SCAPA) Lund University Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée CERN DESY / University of Hamburg See also Dielectric wall accelerator List of plasma physics articles References External links Plasma Wakefield Acceleration - A Guide Riding the Plasma Wave of the Future Plasma physics Accelerator physics