Abstract
We review laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) research that aims at table-top sized X-ray free-electron
laser (XFEL) based on LWFA under the ImPACT program. LWFA is expected to be a novel scheme for
accelerating electron beams beyond GeV-class energy with compact devices. In recent studies, the
pointing stability of the electron beams from LWFA has been dramatically improved by plasma-microoptics
(PMO) that function as a focusing and optical-guiding tool for intense laser pulses. The PMO
enables electron beams to be precisely controlled and/or transported by the beam-optics of conventional
accelerators. With these techniques a staging LWFA has been demonstrated successfully, and high
quality quasi-mono-energetic beams below the 100 MeV range are produced with good repeatability.
Sub-GeV electron beams are also produced with the boosters. Finally, we introduce a new facility that
includes a laser system designed for the exclusive use of the laser-driven XFEL, which is under
construction at the RIKEN-Harima-Campus.
