  Simulations have shown that a high energy, short and intense proton beam can
drive a large amplitude plasma wave and accelerate an electron beam to the
energy frontier in a single plasma channel. To verify this novel idea, a
proof-of-principle demonstration experiment is now being planned. The idea is
to use the available high energy proton beams either from the Proton
Synchrotron (PS) or the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN, to shoot the
beam into a plasma cell and to excite the plasma wakefield. A strong density
modulation due to the excited plasma wakefield is produced for a long drive
beam and this modulated beam in turn produces a high electric field. The
proposed experimental setup is introduced in this paper. The interactions
between the plasma and the proton beam are simulated and the results are
presented. The compression of an SPS bunch is also discussed.
