In this
talk, I will give a short description of laser wakefield acceleration
of a short, low-energy electron bunch injected into a plasma channel
in front of a laser pulse[1]. This particular scheme can be developed
into a compact, extremely bright electron source due to strong longitudinal
and transverse compression of the injected bunch, as it is overtaken
by the laser pulse and trapped in
its wakefield. I will discuss outstanding issues with this scheme and
a possible implementation with a state-of-the-art injector and present-day
laser and plasma technology, to be built at Strathclyde University as
part of the Alpha-X laser wakefield acceleration programme[2].
[1] A.G. Khachatryan et al. Phys. Rev. ST-AB 7, 121301 (2004)
[2] http://phys.strath.ac.uk/alpha-x/