Eric Esarey, director of the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) Center in the Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics Division at the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has been awarded the 2025 U.S. Particle Accelerator School (USPAS) Prize for Achievement in Accelerator Science and Technology. The award is “In recognition of outstanding contributions to the science and technology of plasma acceleration concepts, and, in particular, for pioneering theoretical research in the physics of laser-plasma accelerators.”

“I am deeply honored to receive the USPAS award,” said Esarey. “The USPAS is vital to accelerator science and offers outstanding courses to the international community. I am very pleased that, through this award, the USPAS recognizes the importance of research on advanced laser-plasma accelerators. Laser-plasma acceleration is an exciting, dynamic, and rapidly growing area that attracts many students and early career researchers to the field of accelerator science.”

Funded by the Office of High Energy Physics of the U.S. Department of Energy, the USPAS is a longstanding organization with a profound impact on particle accelerator R&D and applications. Particle accelerators have various applications spanning basic research, industry, and societal contexts. These applications include compact accelerators used in medical research and cancer therapy, advanced light sources for materials science, and large-scale high-energy colliders for investigating the fundamental nature of matter.

Despite the numerous applications of accelerators, most colleges and universities lack courses on accelerator science and technology. To address this, USPAS offers classes to students, engineers, and scientists who want to learn more about accelerators and related fields. It plays a crucial role in training the next generation of accelerator scientists and engineers.

Over the years, Esarey has taught courses at the USPAS on multiple occasions. In particular, he developed and delivered the first class on plasma-based accelerators offered by USPAS in 2006. Plasma-based accelerators, a relatively new technology, can sustain ultrahigh electric fields (1-100 GV/m), which are approximately three orders of magnitude higher than traditional radio-frequency accelerators. This allows plasma accelerators to accelerate particles more rapidly on a compact and cost-effective platform. Laboratories around the world are developing them for various applications.

In addition to his involvement with the USPAS, he has published over 270 refereed journal articles on plasma accelerators and related fields, garnering more than 25,000 citations throughout his nearly 40-year research career. This body of work includes many seminal papers that outline the fundamental theory of plasma accelerators, intense laser-plasma interactions, and related phenomena.

Esarey holds a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The BELLA Center includes approximately 50 scientists, engineers, technicians, postdoctoral researchers, and students who study laser-plasma accelerators and their applications. Recently, the BELLA Center demonstrated the generation of 10 GeV electron beams using a 30 cm plasma driven by the BELLA Petawatt laser system.

Esarey has also been honored with a 2025 Distinguished Author award from the Physics of Plasmas, an American Institute of Physics journal. On receiving the award, Esarey said:

“Physics of Plasmas is a favorite journal of mine that I browse on a regular basis, ever since I was a graduate student. I especially enjoy the APS DPP special issues. I always find high-quality articles in every issue. This is largely owing to the great editorial staff, in particular, the late Chief Editor Ronald Davidson, a former professor of mine, and the recent Chief Editor Emeritus Michael Maul, a fellow graduate of the MIT plasma physics program. I look forward to continuing to publish in Physics of Plasmas.”

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