Improved computational methods are essential to the diverse and rapidly developing field of advanced accelerator concepts. We present an overview of some computational algorithms for laser-plasma concepts and high-brightness photocathode electron sources. In particular, we discuss algorithms for reduced laser-plasma models that can be orders of magnitude faster than their higher-fidelity counterparts, as well as important on-going efforts to include relevant additional physics that has been previously neglected. As an example of the former, we present 2D laser wakefield accelerator simulations in an optimal Lorentz frame, demonstrating >10 GeV energy gain of externally injected electrons over a 2 m interaction length, showing good agreement with predictions from scaled simulations and theory, with a speedup factor of ~;;2,000 as compared to standard particle-in-cell.

Plasma density gradients in a gas jet were used to control the wake phase velocity and trapping threshold in a laser wakefield accelerator, producing stable electron bunches with longitudinal and transverse momentum spreads more than 10 times lower than in previous experiments (0.17 and 0.02 MeV=c FWHM, respectively) and with central momenta of 0.76 +- 0.02 MeV=c. Transition radiation measurements combined with simulations indicated that the bunches can be used as a wakefield accelerator injector to produce stable beams with 0.2 MeV=c-class momentum spread at high energies.

The plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA) concept has been proposed as a potential energy doubler for present or future electron-positron colliders. Recent particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations have shown that the self-fields of the required electron beam driver can tunnel ionize neutral Li, leading to plasma wake dynamics differing significantly from that of a preionized plasma. It has also been shown, for the case of a preionized plasma, that the plasma wake of a positron driver differs strongly from that of an electron driver. We will present new PIC simulations, using the OOPIC code, showing the effects of tunneling ionization on the plasma wake generated by high-density positron drivers. The results will be compared to previous work on electron drivers with tunneling ionization and positron drivers without ionization. Parameters relevant to the energy doubler and the upcoming E-164x experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center will be considered.

We have conducted particle-in-cell simulations of laser pulse propagation through neutral He, including the effects of tunneling ionization, within the parameter regime of the l'OASIS experiments [1,2] at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The simulations show the theoretically predicted [3] blue shifting of the laser frequency at the leading edge of the pulse. The observed blue shifting is in good agreement with the experimental data. These results indicate that such computations can be used to accurately simulate a number of important effects related to tunneling iioniization for laser-plasma accelerator concepts, such as steepening due to ionization-induced pump depletion, which can seed and enhance instabilities. Our simulations show self-modulation occuring earlier when tunneling ionization is included then for a pre-ionized plasma.