Traditional spiral inflectors of the Belmont-Pabot type are commonly used for axial injection of external ion beams into cyclotrons. These inflectors are designed to control the trajectory of the central path, and do not actively focus the beam in the vertical and longitudinal directions. This can introduce effects such as a large vertical divergence and a debunching longitudinal spread, making it difficult to match the injection line emittance to the cyclotron acceptance. In an attempt to overcome this, some recent inflectors have started incorporating electrodes specially shaped to produce field gradients along the central path, thereby influencing the inflector optics. This method has shown some success, and at iThemba LABS an inflector was built exhibiting good vertical focusing. However, it performed poorly longitudinally, worse than traditional spiral inflectors. In this article a generalized field gradient spiral inflector design is presented, based on a mathematical description of all possible first-order field gradients along the central path. Such a design is numerically optimized to simultaneously focus longitudinally and vertically. Experimental studies of this design show a 60% improvement in overall current extracted from the cyclotron.

The Landau damping mechanism plays a crucial role in providing single-bunch stability in the LHC, high-luminosity LHC, and other existing as well as previous and future circular hadron accelerators. In this paper, the thresholds for the loss of Landau damping (LLD) in the longitudinal plane are derived analytically using the Lebedev matrix equation (1968) and the concept of the emerged van Kampen modes (1983). We have found that for the commonly used particle distribution functions from a binomial family, the LLD threshold vanishes in the presence of the constant inductive impedance $\mathrm{Im}Z/k$ above transition energy. Thus, the effect of the cutoff frequency or the resonant frequency of a broadband impedance on beam dynamics is studied in detail. The findings are confirmed by direct numerical solutions of the Lebedev equation as well as using the Oide-Yokoya method (1990). Moreover, the characteristics, which are important for beam operation, as the amplitude of residual oscillations and the damping time after a kick (or injection errors) are considered both above and below the threshold. Dependence of the threshold on particle distribution in the longitudinal phase space is also analyzed, including some special cases with a nonzero threshold for $\mathrm{Im}Z/k=\text{const}$. All main results are confirmed by macroparticle simulations and consistent with available beam measurements in the LHC.

Cooling of hadron beams is critically important in the next generation of hadron storage rings for delivery of unprecedented performance. One such application is the electron-ion collider presently under development in the US. The desire to develop electron coolers for operation at much higher energies than previously achieved necessitates the use of radio-frequency (rf) fields for acceleration as opposed to the conventional, electrostatic approach. While electron cooling is a mature technology at low energy utilizing a dc beam, rf acceleration requires the cooling beam to be bunched, thus extending the parameter space to an unexplored territory. It is important to experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of cooling with electron bunches and further investigate how the relative time structure of the two beams affects the cooling properties; thus, a set of four pulsed-beam cooling experiments was carried out by a collaboration of Jefferson Lab and Institute of Modern Physics (IMP). The experiments have successfully demonstrated cooling with a beam of electron bunches in both the longitudinal and transverse directions for the first time. We have measured the effect of the electron bunch length and longitudinal ion focusing strength on the temporal evolution of the longitudinal and transverse ion beam profile and demonstrate that if the synchronization can be accurately maintained, the dynamics are not adversely affected by the change in time structure.

Recent developments in superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) research have resulted in significant increases of cavity performance. Advances have been made in both reducing rf surface resistance and pushing the readily achievable accelerating gradient by using novel SRF cavity treatments including surface processing, custom heat treatments, and flux expulsion. These developments have been largely driven by specific tests on single-cell elliptical cavities, while TEM cavities have typically been designed and developed as specific to a project application and not as standard test articles that could be replicated across various labs. To address this, two purpose-built research cavities, one quarter-wave and one half-wave resonator, have been designed and built to allow characterization of TEM-mode cavities with standard and novel surface treatments. The cavities are intended as the TEM-mode equivalent to the 1.3 GHz single-cell cavity, which is the essential tool for high-frequency cavity research. Given their coaxial structure, the cavities allow testing at the fundamental mode and higher harmonics, giving unique insight into the role of rf frequency on fundamental loss mechanisms from intrinsic and extrinsic sources. In this paper, the cavities and testing infrastructure are described, and the first performance measurements of both cavities are presented. Temperature-dependent surface resistance data are analyzed to extract both the temperature-dependent and temperature-independent components and their dependence on the rf field and frequency. In particular, the temperature-dependent component was found to be at low fields $\propto {\omega }^{1.8(1)}$ at 4.2 K and $\propto {\omega }^{1.7(2)}$ at 2 K, agreeing fairly well with the theoretical model. The growth of the temperature-dependent surface resistance with increasing field amplitude matches both exponential and quadratic growth models fairly well in the examined range. The independent component is determined to be $\propto {\omega }^{0.7(1)}$, matching roughly with anomalous losses, while no clear field dependence was determined. In addition, first measurements of a $120°\mathrm{C}$ baking treatment and of the external magnetic field sensitivity are presented.

214 neodymium permanent magnets have been manufactured for the fixed-field, multiturn return loop of the Cornell-Brookhaven Energy recovery linac Test Accelerator at Cornell University. There are 5 types of quadrupole and combined-function gradient magnets using a variant of the circular Halbach design. These are made out of NdFeB material and glued into an aluminium housing with water channels for temperature stabilization. The NdFeB wedges and magnet construction were done by outside companies, while the final “tuning” using inserts containing 64 iron rods per magnet was done at BNL over a period of about 6 months. Average relative field errors of $2.2\times {10}^{-4}$ were achieved on the beam region. The magnet strengths vary by type but are of order $10\mathrm{T}/\mathrm{m}$ for quadrupole component and up to 0.3 T for the dipole. This paper reports on the field quality and timeline achieved in this production process.

We report on the development of machine learning models for classifying C100 superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavity faults in the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Jefferson Lab. CEBAF is a continuous-wave recirculating linac utilizing 418 SRF cavities to accelerate electrons up to 12 GeV through five passes. Of these, 96 cavities (12 cryomodules) are designed with a digital low-level rf system configured such that a cavity fault triggers waveform recordings of 17 rf signals for each of the eight cavities in the cryomodule. Subject matter experts are able to analyze the collected time-series data and identify which of the eight cavities faulted first and classify the type of fault. This information is used to find trends and strategically deploy mitigations to problematic cryomodules. However, manually labeling the data is laborious and time consuming. By leveraging machine learning, near real-time—rather than postmortem—identification of the offending cavity and classification of the fault type has been implemented. We discuss performance of the machine learning models during a recent physics run. Results show the cavity identification and fault classification models have accuracies of 84.9% and 78.2%, respectively.

A collaboration between DESY, PSI and CERN has developed and built an advanced modular $X$-band transverse deflection structure (TDS) system with the new feature of providing variable polarization of the deflecting force. The prototype of the novel $X$-band TDS, the polarizable $X$-band (PolariX) TDS, was fabricated at PSI following the high-precision tuning-free production process developed for the C-band Linac of the SwissFEL project. Bead-pull rf measurements were also performed at PSI to verify, in particular, that the polarization of the dipole fields does not have any rotation along the structure. The high-power test was performed at CERN and now the TDS is at DESY and has been installed in the FLASHForward beamline, where the first streaking experience with beam has been accomplished. We summarize in this paper the rf design of the TDS and its key components, such as the $X$-band pulse compressor, E-rotator, and phase shifter, the results of the bead-pull measurements and the high power test and finally the rf setup at DESY.

In the scope of the Physics Beyond Colliders studies, the gamma-factory initiative proposes the use of partially stripped ions as a driver of a new type of high-intensity photon source in CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In 2018, the LHC accelerated and stored partially stripped ${{}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}}^{81+}$ ions for the first time. The collimation system efficiency recorded during this test was found to be prohibitively low, so that only a very low-intensity beam could be stored without the risk of triggering a beam dump when regular, minor beam losses occur. The worst losses were localized in the dispersion suppressor of the betatron-cleaning insertion. This article presents an analysis to understand in detail the source of these losses. Based on this understanding, possible mitigation measures that could significantly improve the cleaning efficiency and enable regular operation with partially stripped ions in the future are developed.

Hydrodynamic optically-field-ionized (HOFI) plasma channels up to 100 mm long are investigated. Optical guiding is demonstrated of laser pulses with a peak input intensity of $6\times {10}^{17}{\mathrm{W}\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$ through 100 mm long plasma channels with on-axis densities measured interferometrically to be as low as $n_{e0}=(1.0\pm 0.3)\times {10}^{17}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$. Guiding is also observed at lower axial densities, which are inferred from magneto-hydrodynamic simulations to be approximately $7\times {10}^{16}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$. Measurements of the power attenuation lengths of the channels are shown to be in good agreement with those calculated from the measured transverse electron density profiles. To our knowledge, the plasma channels investigated in this work are the longest, and have the lowest on-axis density, of any free-standing waveguide demonstrated to guide laser pulses with intensities above $>10^{17}{\mathrm{W}\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$.

An energy of 362 MJ is stored in each of the two LHC proton beams for nominal beam parameters. This will be further increased to about 700 MJ in the future high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) and uncontrolled beam losses represent a significant hazard for the integrity and safe operation of the machine. In this paper, a number of failure mechanisms that can lead to a fast increase of beam losses are analyzed. Most critical are failures in the magnet protection system, namely the quench heaters and a novel protection system called coupling-loss induced quench (CLIQ). An important outcome is that magnet protection has to be evaluated for its impact on the beam and designed accordingly. In particular, CLIQ, which is to protect the new HL-LHC triplet magnets, constitutes the fastest known failure in the LHC if triggered spuriously. A schematic change of CLIQ to mitigate the hazard is presented. A loss of the beam-beam kick due to the extraction of one beam is another source of beam losses with a fast onset. A significantly stronger impact is expected in the upcoming LHC Run III and HL-LHC as compared to the current LHC, mainly due to the increased bunch intensity. Its criticality and mitigation methods are discussed. It is shown that symmetric quenches in the superconducting magnets for the final focusing triplet can have a significant impact on the beam on short timescales. The impact on the beam due to failures of the beam-beam compensating wires as well as coherent excitations by the transverse beam damper are also discussed.

We study experimentally the longitudinal and transverse wakefields driven by a highly relativistic proton bunch during self-modulation in plasma. We show that the wakefields’ growth and amplitude increase with increasing seed amplitude as well as with the proton bunch charge in the plasma. We study transverse wakefields using the maximum radius of the proton bunch distribution measured on a screen downstream from the plasma. We study longitudinal wakefields by externally injecting electrons and measuring their final energy. Measurements agree with trends predicted by theory and numerical simulations and validate our understanding of the development of self-modulation. Experiments were performed in the context of the Advanced Wakefield Experiment (AWAKE).

Laser plasma accelerators capable of generating $>10\mathrm{GeV}$ electron beams may require plasma mirrors to remove undepleted laser energy at the end of each accelerator stage. Near the plasma mirror surface, the electron bunch can interact with the reflected light, resulting in inverse Compton scattering. For realistic conditions, we show that a significant fraction of electrons emit one or more photons, increasing the energy spread of the electron bunch. We provide an analytical expression for calculating this effect, and use it to estimate the minimum drift space required before the plasma mirror to meet given energy spread specifications. Mitigation strategies, necessary to achieve sub-percent energy spread in multi-GeV laser wakefield electron sources, are proposed and explored.

The Low Energy Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) Electron Cooler (LEReC) is the world’s first electron cooler using rf-accelerated electron bunches. Recently, the cooling of gold ion beams in RHIC by 1.6 and 2.0 MeV electrons was successfully achieved. Along with the velocity spread and alignment of the electron beam, the space-charge force between ions and electrons also plays an important role in the cooling process. In order to investigate the cooling dynamics with bunched electron beams and to provide guidance for the LEReC operation, a simulation code was developed, which includes nonmagnetized cooling, intrabeam scattering, and the space-charge effect. In this paper, we present and discuss the simulation results, showing how various effects influence the cooling process as well as provide experimental benchmarking of the simulations.

We study the effect of a passive harmonic cavity, introduced to cause bunch lengthening, in an electron storage ring. We derive a formula for the induced voltage from such a cavity with high $Q$, excited by a sequence of bunches, allowing for arbitrary gaps in the sequence and arbitrary currents. Except for a minor term that can be determined iteratively, the voltage is given in terms of a single mode of the Fourier transforms of the bunch forms, namely, the mode at the resonant frequency of the cavity. Supposing that the only wakefield is from the harmonic cavity, we derive a system of coupled Haïssinski equations which determine the bunch positions and profiles in the equilibrium state. The number of unknowns in the system is only twice the number of bunches, and it can be solved quickly by a Newton iteration, starting with a guess determined by path following from a solution at a weak current. We explore the effect of the fill pattern on the bunch lengthening and also the dependence on the shunt impedance and detuning of the cavity away from the third harmonic of the main accelerating cavity. We consider two measures to reduce the effects of gaps: (i) distribution of the gaps around the ring to the greatest extent allowed and (ii) “guard bunches” with higher charges adjacent to the gaps, compensating for the charge missing in gaps. Results for parameters of the forthcoming Advanced Light Source upgrade are presented.

We exploit echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) to produce fully coherent free-electron laser (FEL) pulses at soft-x-ray wavelengths and shape their spectrotemporal content. In an EEHG FEL, the longitudinal phase space of the relativistic electron beam that amplifies light is precisely tailored using two external seed lasers and two magnetic chicanes. We show that the spectrotemporal properties of the emitted radiation can be controlled by tuning the bandwidth, linear frequency chirp, and intensity of one of the seed lasers. The experimental data are supported by analytical and numerical models. Our results open a pathway toward coherent control of quantum processes at short wavelengths in the fields of applied physics, chemistry and biology, where manipulating the radiation spectrum is essential. The ability to precisely control the spectrotemporal content of intense, short-wavelength FEL pulses and the low sensitivity of the radiation to electron-beam imperfections make the technique an ideal candidate for use in chirped-pulse amplification schemes.

We report direct observations of submicropulse beam centroid shifts (head-tail kicks) correlated with short-range wakefields generated by off-axis electron-beam steering in Tesla-type superconducting rf cavities. The experiments were performed at the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) Facility using its unique configuration of a photocathode rf gun injecting beam into two separated nine-cell cavities. The cavities are in series with corrector magnets and beam position monitors (BPMs) located before, between, and after them. The off-axis steering in the cavity was guided by the rf BPM data and higher-order mode circuitry targeting the first and second dipole passbands. The centroid shifts of up to $300\mu \mathrm{m}$ from head to tail of the $\sim 10\text{−}\mathrm{ps}$-long micropulses at $500\mathrm{pC}/\mathrm{b}$ in a 3-MHz pulse train were measured via optical transition radiation at a downstream screen with a Hamamatsu C5680 synchroscan streak camera. We also showed that we could compensate such kicks from the first cavity with the short-range wakefields (SRWs) in the second cavity, and we observed the dilution of the beam size in the tail of the pulses. A simple numerical model of the SRW effect in a single Tesla cavity is compared to the experiment successfully. In principle, these fundamental results may be scaled to cryomodule configurations of major free-electron laser (FEL) facilities such as the European XFEL, Linac Coherent Light Source or LCLS-II XFEL, and the conceptual international linear collider.

In this article, a decomposition approach for the computation of beam coupling impedances is proposed. This approach can account for the mutual electromagnetic coupling in long accelerator structures consisting of several consecutive segments. The method is based on the description of the individual segments using a multimodal network matrix formulation in which the charged particle beam is considered as an additional port. Then, the generalized multimodal network matrices of all segments are combined to a multimodal network matrix of the complete structure. The beam coupling impedance as well as the scattering parameters of the full structure are recovered as particular matrix elements in this multimodal network matrix. The new method generalizes Coupled $S$-Parameter Calculation (CSC) introduced in earlier work such that charged particle beams are considered. Consequently, the introduced scheme is referred to as CSC. Application examples for realistic accelerator components such as the simulation of a full TESLA 1.3 GHz-cavity of the European XFEL are provided. These simulations demonstrate the high accuracy and numerical performance of the proposed method.

EuroCirCol is a conceptual design study of a post-LHC, Future Circular Hadron Collider (FCC-hh) which aims to expand the current energy and luminosity frontiers. The vacuum chamber of this 100 TeV, 100 km collider, will have to cope with unprecedented levels of synchrotron radiation linear power for proton colliders, 160 times higher than in the LHC for baseline parameters, releasing consequently much larger amounts of gas into the system. At the same time, it will be dealing with a tighter magnet aperture. In order to reach a good vacuum level, it has been necessary to find solutions beyond the particle colliders’ state of art. This paper proposes a design of a novel beam screen, the element responsible for absorbing the emitted power. It is intended to overcome the drawbacks derived from the stronger synchrotron radiation while allowing at the same time a good beam quality.

Thomson scattering sources with their hard x-ray pencil beams represent a promising candidate to drive high-resolution X-ray Fluorescence Imaging (XFI). As XFI is a scanning imaging modality, it specifically requires pencil-beam geometries along with a high beam mobility. In combination with laser-wakefield acceleration (LWFA) such sources could provide the compactness needed for a future transition into clinical application. A sufficient flux within a small bandwidth could enable in-vivo high-sensitivity XFI for early cancer diagnostics and pharmacokinetic imaging. We thus report on a specific all-laser driven source design directed at increasing the photon number within the bandwidth and opening angle defined by XFI conditions. Typical parameters of driver lasers and electron bunches from LWFA are utilized and controlled within realistic parameter regions on the basis of appropriate beam optics. An active plasma lens is implemented for chromatic focal control of the bunch. Source performance limits are identified and compared to existing x-ray sources with regard to their potential to be implemented in future clinical XFI.

We present experimental evidence of relativistic electron-cyclotron resonances (RECRs) in the vicinity of the relativistically intense pump laser of a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA). The effects of the RECRs are visualized by imaging the driven plasma wave with a few-cycle, optical probe in transverse geometry. The probe experiences strong, spectrally dependent and relativistically modified birefringence in the vicinity of the pump that arises due to the plasma electrons’ relativistic motion in the pump’s electromagnetic fields. The spectral birefringence is strongly dependent on the local magnetic field distribution of the pump laser. Analysis and comparison to both 2D and 3D particle-in-cell simulations confirm the origin of the RECR effect and its appearance in experimental and simulated shadowgrams of the laser-plasma interaction. The RECR effect is relevant for any relativistic, magnetized plasma and in the case of LWFA could provide a nondestructive, in situ diagnostic for tracking the evolution of the pump’s intensity distribution with propagation through tenuous plasma.