Feasibility study of channeling acceleration experiment at the Fermilab ASTA facility

Abstract: Crystal channeling technology has offered various opportunities in accelerator community with a viability of ultrahigh gradient (TV/m) acceleration for future HEP collider in Energy Frontier. The major challenge of the channeling acceleration is that ultimate acceleration gradients might require high power driver at hard x-ray regime (~ 40 keV), exceeding those conceivable for x-rays as of today, though x-ray lasers can efficiently excite solid plasma and accelerate particles inside a crystal channel. Moreover, only disposable crystal accelerators are possible at such high externally excited fields which would exceed the ionization thresholds destroying the atomic structure, so acceleration will take place only in a short time before full dissociation of the lattice. Carbon- based nanostructures have great potential with a wide range of flexibility and superior physical strength, which can be applied to channeling acceleration. This paper present beam-driven channeling acceleration concept with CNTs and discuss feasible experiments with the Advanced Superconducting Test Area (ASTA) in Fermilab and beyond.