Generation of accelerating plasma waves using two counter-propagating laser beams is considered. Colliding-beam accelerator requires two laser pulses: the long pump and the short timing beam. We emphasize the similarities and differences between the conventional laser wakefield accelerator and the colliding-beam accelerator (CBA). The highly-nonlinear nature of the wake excitation is explained ...

Next-generation plasma-based accelerators can push electron bunches to gigaelectronvolt energies within centimetre distances1,2. The plasma, excited by a driver pulse, generates large electric fields that efficiently accelerate trailing witness bunch3–5, enabling the realization of laboratory-scale applications ranging from high-energy colliders6 ultrabright light sources7. So far, several expe...