Researchers have accelerated subatomic particles to the highest energies ever recorded in a compact particle accelerator using one of the most powerful lasers in the world.

A team from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) used a specialized petawatt laser and plasma (a charged-particle gas) to make the particles move at this unheard of speed. This emerging class of particle accelerators is called a laser-plasma accelerator.

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Physicists believe laser-plasma accelerators can reduce the size of conventional, mile-long accelerators to machines that can sit atop a table.

Researchers accelerated electrons inside a 9 centimeter (4 inch) long tube of plasma to an energy of 4.25 giga-electron volts. The acceleration in this short distance was equivalent to an energy gradient 1,000 times greater than conventional particle accelerators.

The energy produced is a world record energy for laser-plasma accelerators.

"This result requires exquisite control over the laser and the plasma," said Dr. Wim Leemans, director of the Accelerator Technology and Applied Physics Division at Berkeley Lab and lead author on the paper.

BELLA (Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator), one of the most powerful lasers in the world helped to achieve the record-breaking feat a for compact particle accelerator. BELLA produces a quadrillion watts of power (a petawatt) and started the operation in 2013.

Dr. James Symons, associate laboratory director for Physical Sciences at Berkeley Lab, said it is a great achievement for Dr. Leemans and his team to attain a record-breaking result in their first operational campaign with BELLA.

The recent issue of Physical Review Letters published the results of the experiment.

TagsAccelerator Technology and Applied Physics Division, laser-plasma accelerator, accelerators, Bella, high-energy physics, Lasers, particle accelerators, petawatt