BELLA: The Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator

BELLA, the Berkeley Laboratory Laser Accelerator created an experimental facility for further advancing the development of laser-driven plasma acceleration. BELLA’s unique attribute is the ability to use laser light to accelerate an electron beam to 10 GeV (10 billion electron volts) or more in the comparatively short distance of approximately one meter.

This technology holds great promise for dramatically reducing the size, cost, energy usage, and environmental impact of future accelerators, particularly high-energy electron-positron colliders. BELLA’s development could pave the way for future accelerators to be hundreds of times shorter and more compact than current technology allows while producing high-quality electron beams with the same energy levels.