This proposal from a Stanford/UCLA/USC/SLAC collaboration requests support for a multi-agency Center, called the ORION Center, devoted to advanced accelerator and beam physics research. Beam physics research has the goal of understanding the physics and developing the technologies of future particle accelerators. Accelerator concepts based on plasmas and lasers have the promise of continuing the growth in available energy, improving beam brightness, and reaching extraordinary energy densities. Such advances will have the potential of far reaching impact on sciences ranging from particle physics to coherent radiation generation to high energy density plasma science.
The foundation of the ORION Center will be specialized accelerators and infrastructure at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) that will be available to the Center. Research will begin with experiments at the Final Focus Test Beam (FFTB), which is an extensively instrumented beamline at the end of the SLAC main linear accelerator (linac) that can deliver 30 GeV electron and positron beams. The FFTB will be available for at least one more year until it is needed for X-ray FEL research. It is an exceptional facility for experiments in non-linear positron/matter and electron/matter interactions. Understanding these interactions is crucial for plasma based high-energy colliders, and these experiments are an integral part of the ORION Center. In the longer-term, experimental activities will be concentrated at the ORION Research Facility, which will be based on the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA), an operating linac at SLAC capable of providing beams from 50 to 350 MeV. The ORION Facility will be user-oriented and open to experimenters studying all aspects of advanced accelerator science and technology.
Broader Impacts: The ambition of the ORION Center is to perform breakthrough beam physics, high energy density plasma, and radiation generation research. If successful, it will lead to devices that impact particle physics and basic research in several fields. A novel outreach program will reach underrepresented students and teachers through the California community college system.
