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[en] This issue is the collection of the papers presented at the title meeting. The 8 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

[en] Complete text of publication follows. Following a successful decade of exploration of the basic principles of laser-plasma acceleration (LPA), dedicated PW-scale systems are being built around the world to demonstrate operation of laser-plasma accelerators at higher energy and beam quality. The next decade will be crucial for the establishment of LPA as a mature approach to the next generation of accelerators, with potential impact on future international collaborative programmes in high-energy physics. The Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, in collaboration with the Italian National Research Council as promoted and funded a LPA programmes which included a range of activities, including LPA with self-injection and external injection and the generation of tuneable X-ray radiation from Thomson scattering of LPA electron bunches for medical applications. The commissioning of the 300 TW Frascati LAser for Multidisciplinary Experiments is now being completed and the a test experiment on electron acceleration with self-injection is in progress. An overview of the LPA programme will be given with a detailed description of the FLAME installation and the planned test experiment.

[en] We have demonstrated acceleration of magnetically confined plasma rings in a coaxial accelerator, with acceleration of 0.02-mg ring masses to 1.4 x 10⁸ cm/sec at ≥30% efficiency. In some cases low mass rings have reached a velocity of 2.5 x 10⁸ cm/sec. When the accelerated rings translate into conical electrodes, we have observed focusing of rings by a factor of ∼3 in radius with a factor of ≥4 magnetic field amplification. A reasonably complete accounting of ring mass, momentum, and energy confirms the basic concept of acceleration of stable, well-confined magnetized plasma rings

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[en] A summary is given on the work presented and discussed in the Laser-Plasma Acceleration Working Group at the 2004 Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop, including the Plasma Acceleration Subgroup (Group-Leader: Eric Esarey; Co-Group-Leader: Sergei Tochitsky) and the Plasma Guiding Subgroup (Group-Leader: Howard Milchberg; Co-Group-Leader: Carl Schroeder)

[en] This paper is an introduction to the acceleration of the electrons that cause polar auroras. Emphasis is placed on acceleration processes involving Alfvén waves and their role in the global auroral context. (paper)

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[en] The experimental study of the acceleration of metal foils when irradiated by laser pulses provides information on the mechanisms of absorption and thermal conduction of plasmas and targets in the solid phase. The simplest and most convenient geometry for diagnostics is plane geometry which has been used in experiments with the Mishen'-2 device. The experimental results are compared with theory. (author)