Staged Electron Laser Acceleration (STELLA) Experiment

The Staged Electron Laser Acceleration (STELLA) experiment being assembled at the BNL ATF features an inverse free-electron-laser (IFEL) prebuncher feeding into an inverse Cerenkov accelerator (ICA). Both systems are driven by the same high power ATF CO2 laser. This experiment is intended to examine the important issue of rephasing and acceleration of microbunches, which are generated by the IFEL, whose longitudinal dimensions are only microns long. The current status of the experiment will be reviewed along with model predictions.