Exploring ultra-high-intensity wakefields in carbon nanotube arrays: An effective plasma-density approach

Charged particle acceleration using solid-state nanostructures has attracted attention in recent years as a method of achieving ultra-high-gradient acceleration in the TV/m domain. More concretely, metallic hollow nanostructures could be suitable for particle acceleration through the excitation of wakefields by a laser or a high-intensity charged particle beam in a high-density solid-state plasma. For instance, due to their special channelling properties as well as optoelectronic and thermo-mechanical properties, carbon nanotubes could be an excellent medium for this purpose. This article investigates the feasibility of generating ultra-high gradient acceleration using carbon nanotube arrays, modelled as solid-state plasmas in conventional particle-in-cell simulations performed in a two-dimensional axisymmetric (quasi -3D) geometry. The generation of beam-driven plasma wakefields depending on different parameters of the solid structure is discussed in detail. Furthermore, by adopting an effective plasma-density approach, existing analytical expressions, originally derived for homogeneous plasmas, can be used to describe wakefields driven in periodic non-uniform plasmas.