FLASHForward X-2: Towards beam quality preservation in a plasma booster

Abstract Beam quality preservation in the external injection scheme is one of the key missing milestones towards staging of plasma-wakefield accelerators, a prerequisite for their utilisation in particle physics or other applications requiring high energy beams. This topic will be studied at FLASHForward, a unique beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration facility currently under construction at DESY (Hamburg, Germany), in the frame of the FLASHForward X-2 experiment. High-quality 1 GeV-class electron beams from the free-electron laser FLASH with μ m-emittances, kA-scale currents, and less than 100 fs durations will be utilised to generate driver–witness pairs by using a mask in a dispersive section. In this contribution the physics case and the current status of the FLASHForward X-2 experiment are reviewed. The experimental installation is described, with a focus on the electron beamline. Electron beam dynamics and particle-in-cell simulations are presented.