Advances in laser plasma accelerators and their future prospect

We will discuss the progress on building laser powered, plasma based particle accelerators where electrons surf on waves and can reach energy levels in a few 10’s of cm that, if one relies on conventional methods, would require machines multiple football fields long. Although many challenges remain, this new technology is at the brink of offering a profoundly different way in which we may build particle accelerators. We will discuss their potential use for the generation of intense radiation, injection into storage ring based light sources, compact free electron lasers, future colliders or in medical cancer therapy devices. Together with R&D to further advance their performance, developing high average, high peak power lasers will be essential for their deployment into laboratories and broader applications.