Slice Emittance Preservation and Focus Control in a Passive Plasma Lens

Abstract: Strong, symmetrically focusing plasma lenses are promising for accommodating the small beams associated with plasma-based accelerators and collider final foci. However, while focusing with active and passive plasma lenses has been experimentally demonstrated, compatibility with high-brightness beams relevant for applications has not. In this Letter, we show experimentally that passive plasma lenses can preserve free-electron-laser-quality slice emittance while focusing two orders of magnitude more strongly than quadrupole magnets, and that the focal parameters can be controlled.