When considering intense particle or laser beams propagating in dense plasma or gas, ionization plays an important role. Impact ionization and tunnel ionization may create new plasma electrons, altering the physics of wakefield accelerators, causing blue shifts in laser spectra, creating and modifying instabilities, etc. Here we describe the addition of an impact ionization package into the 3-D, object-oriented, fully parallel PIC code OSIRIS. We apply the simulation tool to simulate the parameters of the upcoming E164 Plasma Wakefield Accelerator experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). We find that impact ionization is dominated by the plasma electrons moving in the wake rather than the 30 GeV drive beam electrons. Impact ionization leads to a significant number of trapped electrons accelerated from rest in the wake.

3-D Particle-in-cell OSIRIS simulations of the current E-162 Plasma Wakefield Accelerator Experiment are presented in which a number of non-ideal conditions are modeled simultaneously. These include tilts on the beam in both planes, asymmetric beam emittance, beam energy spread and plasma inhomogeneities both longitudinally and transverse to the beam axis. The relative importance of the non-ideal conditions is discussed and a worst case estimate of the effect of these on energy gain is obtained. The simulation output is then propagated through the downstream optics, drift spaces and apertures leading to the experimental diagnostics to provide insight into the differences between actual beam conditions and what is measured. The work represents a milestone in the level of detail of simulation comparisons to plasma experiments.

The reported results and discussions in the Working Group on High Energy Density Physics and Exotic Acceleration Concepts are summarized. The working group focused largely on laser-generated proton and ion beams from solid targets, but also considered laser vacuum acceleration results, active media accelerator proposals, ferroelectric-based accelerator technology advances and beam conditioning concepts for free electron lasers. The charge to the working group was to develop a laser-based proton injector exceeding current capabilities in at least one important parameter.

The E164/E164X plasma wakefield experiment studies beam-plasma interactions at the Stanford Linear Acceleration Center (SLAC). Due to SLAC's recent ability to variably compress bunches longitudinally from 650 {micro}m down to 20 {micro}m, the incoming beam is sufficiently dense to field ionize the neutral lithium (Li) vapor. The field ionization effects are characterized by the beams energy loss through the Li vapor column. Experiment results are presented.

In the E164 Experiment at that Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), we drive plasma wakes for electron acceleration using 28.5 GeV bunches from the main accelerator. These bunches can now be made with an RMS length of 12 microns, and accurate direct measurement of their lengths is not feasible shot by shot. Instead, we use an indirect technique, measuring the energy spectrum at the end of the linac and comparing with detailed simulations of the entire machine. We simulate with LiTrack, a 2D particle tracking code developed at SLAC. Understanding the longitudinal profile allows a better understanding of acceleration in the plasma wake, as well as investigation of related effects. We discuss the method and validation of our phase space determinations.

The report is intended to identify the compelling research opportunities of high intellectual value in high energy density physics. The opportunities for discovery include the broad scope of this highly interdisciplinary field that spans a wide range of physics areas including plasma physics, laser and particle beam physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, atomic and molecular physics, materials science and condensed matter physics, intense radiation-matter interaction physics, fluid dynamics, and magnetohydrodynamics.

In current plasma-based accelerator experiments, very short bunches (100-150 {micro}m for E164 [1] and 10-20 {micro}m for E164X [2] experiment at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)) are used to drive plasma wakes and achieve high accelerating gradients, on the order of 10-100GV/m. The self-fields of such intense bunches can tunnel ionize neutral gases and create the plasma [3,4]. This may completely change the physics of plasma wakes. A 3-D object-oriented fully parallel PIC code OSIRIS [5] is used to simulate various gas types, beam parameters, etc. to support the design of the experiments. The simulation results for real experiment parameters are presented.