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Efficient positron injection in plasma wakefield acceleration is challenging because it requires a field structure that can both focus and accelerate positrons. Here, we propose a self-adaptive catch-up injection scheme, in which a positron source placed in front of a hollow, positively charged driver is naturally captured as the wake catches up. Analytical modeling and 3D PIC simulations show that positrons with broad initial conditions can be injected into similar accelerating phases and further accelerated to multi-GeV energies. These results provide a proof-of-principle demonstration for a new positron injection and acceleration scheme in plasma wakefields.

From the beloved vanilla orchid, whose pods flavor many of our favorite desserts, to the nose-twisting corpse flower, whose gigantic flower draws crowds with every fetid bloom, even the world’s most treasured flowering plants are in grave danger.

And scientists are only just coming to terms with just how much we stand to lose.

In a recent paper published in Science, an international team of biologists warns that we risk losing more than a fifth of the evolutionary history of flowering plants, as a result of ever-increasing human pressures.