PIC Simulations of Multi-GeV Electron Acceleration for Muon Production

Due to their ability to penetrate deeply into matter, high energy muons can enable radiography of structures that cannot be probed by other forms of radiation. Current artificial sources of muons require the use of conventional GeV-TeV particle accelerators which are 100s-1000s meters in size, ruling out their capability of being brought to a subject. Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA), can achieve acceleration gradients of >100 GeV/m which is three orders of magnitude greater than state-of-the-art conventional RF accelerators. We report on Particle-In-Cell simulations of a single stage LWFA concept that is based on realistic laser parameters and yields electron energies >>10GeV, which are relevant to the production of muons.



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