Utilizing laser-driven plasma accelerators (LPAs) as a high-quality electron beam source is a promising approach to significantly downsize the x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) facility. A multi-GeV LPA beam can be generated in several-centimeter acceleration distance, with a high peak current and a low transverse emittance, which will considerably benefit a compact FEL design. However, the large initial angular divergence and energy spread make it challenging to transport the beam and realize FEL radiation. In this paper, a novel design of beam transport system is proposed to maintain the superior features of the LPA beam and a transverse gradient undulator (TGU) is also adopted as an effective energy spread compensator to generate high-brilliance FEL radiation. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations are presented based on a demonstration experiment with an electron energy of 380 MeV and a radiation wavelength of 30 nm.

A new target solution, the granular waterfall target, is proposed here for a muon collider or a muon-decay neutrino beam facility, especially for the moment which adopts a 15 MW continuous-wave (cw) superconducting linac. Compared to the mercury jet target, the granular waterfall target works by a much simpler mechanism which can operate with a much more powerful beam, which are indicated by the detailed investigations into the heat depositions and the evaluations of the temperature increases for different target concepts. By varying proton beam kinetic energy and the geometrical parameters of the waterfall target, an overall understanding of the figure of merit concerning muon production for this target concept as the target solutions of the long-baseline neutrino factory and the medium-baseline moment is obtained. With 8 GeV beam energy and the optimal geometrical parameters, the influence on muon yield by adopting different beam-target interaction parameters is explored. Studies and discussions of the design details concerning beam dumping are also presented.

The interaction region layout for the $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ future circular collider FCC-ee is presented together with a preliminary estimate of synchrotron radiation that affects this region. We describe in this paper the main guidelines of this design and the estimate of synchrotron radiation coming from the last bending magnets and from the final focus quadrupoles, with the software tools developed for this purpose. The design follows the asymmetric optics layout as far as incoming bend radiation is concerned with the maximum foreseen beam energy of 175 GeV and we present a feasible initial layout with an indication of tolerable synchrotron radiation.

The particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collisions code nam-ecris is used to simulate the electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) plasma sustained in a mixture of Kr with ${\mathrm{O}}_2$, ${\mathrm{N}}_2$, Ar, Ne, and He. The model assumes that ions are electrostatically confined in the ECR zone by a dip in the plasma potential. A gain in the extracted krypton ion currents is seen for the highest charge states; the gain is maximized when oxygen is used as a mixing gas. The special feature of oxygen is that most of the singly charged oxygen ions are produced after the dissociative ionization of oxygen molecules with a large kinetic energy release of around 5 eV per ion. The increased loss rate of energetic lowly charged ions of the mixing element requires a building up of the retarding potential barrier close to the ECR surface to equilibrate electron and ion losses out of the plasma. In the mixed plasmas, the barrier value is large ($\sim 1\mathrm{V}$) compared to pure Kr plasma ($\sim 0.01\mathrm{V}$), with longer confinement times of krypton ions and with much higher ion temperatures. The temperature of the krypton ions is increased because of extra heating by the energetic oxygen ions and a longer time of ion confinement. In calculations, a drop of the highly charged ion currents of lighter elements is observed when adding small fluxes of krypton into the source. This drop is caused by the accumulation of the krypton ions inside plasma, which decreases the electron and ion confinement times.

In an increasing number of high-gradient linear accelerator applications, accelerating structures must operate with both high surface electric fields and low breakdown rates. Understanding the statistical properties of breakdown occurrence in such a regime is of practical importance for optimizing accelerator conditioning and operation algorithms, as well as of interest for efforts to understand the physical processes which underlie the breakdown phenomenon. Experimental data of breakdown has been collected in two distinct high-gradient experimental set-ups: A prototype linear accelerating structure operated in the Compact Linear Collider Xbox 12 GHz test stands, and a parallel plate electrode system operated with pulsed DC in the kV range. Collected data is presented, analyzed and compared. The two systems show similar, distinctive, two-part distributions of number of pulses between breakdowns, with each part corresponding to a specific, constant event rate. The correlation between distance and number of pulses between breakdown indicates that the two parts of the distribution, and their corresponding event rates, represent independent primary and induced follow-up breakdowns. The similarity of results from pulsed DC to 12 GHz rf indicates a similar vacuum arc triggering mechanism over the range of conditions covered by the experiments.

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) has stringent component alignment tolerances in order to preserve the ultralow emittance of the utilized particle beams. Beam-based alignment techniques have been designed to relax these tolerances to realizable values. In this paper, a scheme is presented that is capable of mitigating besides the effects of static misalignments also dynamic misalignments caused by ground motion. It is based on the well-known dispersion-free steering (DFS) algorithm, with the peculiarity that it can perform its correction during the usual operation (on-line). This is enabled by performing the necessary dispersion measurements by introducing only negligibly small beam energy changes (per mille level). It has been found that this on-line correction becomes sensitive to the imperfections of transverse wakefields and structure tilts. These sensitivities have been studied via analytical models and in simulations and appropriate countermeasures to improve the robustness of the method have been proposed. The correction performance and robustness properties of the improved algorithm have been studied in detail with respect to all relevant static and dynamic imperfections in a realistic scenario. The presented scheme is not only a potentially important operational tool for CLIC, but the findings with respect to robustness properties for different imperfections are of general interest for the application of the dispersion-free steering algorithm.

We propose a new scheme to generate high-brightness and temporal coherent soft x-ray radiation in a seeded free-electron laser. The proposed scheme is based on the coherent harmonic generation (CHG) and superradiant principles. A CHG scheme is first used to generate a coherent signal at ultrahigh harmonics of the seed. This coherent signal is then amplified by a series of chicane-undulator modules via the fresh bunch and superradiant processes in the following radiator. Using a representative of a realistic set of parameters, three-dimensional simulations have been carried out and the simulations results demonstrated that 10 GW-level ultrashort ($\sim 20\mathrm{fs}$) coherent radiation pulses in the water window can be achieved by using a 1.6 GeV electron beam based on the proposed technique.

Symplectic tracking is important in accelerator beam dynamics simulation. So far, to the best of our knowledge, there is no self-consistent symplectic space-charge tracking model available in the accelerator community. In this paper, we present a two-dimensional and a three-dimensional symplectic multiparticle spectral model for space-charge tracking simulation. This model includes both the effect from external fields and the effect of self-consistent space-charge fields using a split-operator method. Such a model preserves the phase space structure and shows much less numerical emittance growth than the particle-in-cell model in the illustrative examples.

As part of the R&D program of the LCLS-II project, a novel 3.4-meter-long undulator prototype with horizontal magnetic field and dynamic force compensation has recently been developed at the Advanced Photon Source (APS). Previous steps in this development were the shorter 0.8-meter-long and 2.8-meter-long prototypes. Extensive mechanical and magnetic testing were carried out for each prototype, and each prototype was magnetically tuned using magnetic shims. The resulting performance of the 3.4-meter-long undulator prototype meets all requirements for the LCLS-II insertion device, including limits on the field integrals, phase errors, higher-order magnetic moments, and electron-beam trajectory for all operational gaps, as well as the reproducibility and accuracy of the gap settings.

The future regimes of operation of the LHC will require improved control of ${\beta }^{*}$ measurements to successfully level the luminosities in the interaction points. The method of $k$ modulation has been widely used in other machines to measure lattice beta functions. In the LHC, $k$ modulation of the closest quadrupoles to the interaction point (IP) is the most accurate method to measure ${\beta }^{*}$ at the IP. This paper highlights the challenge of high precision tune measurements (down to ${10}^{-5}$) for the correct determination of ${\beta }^{*}$ in the high luminosity LHC. Furthermore it presents a new analytical method for the calculation of ${\beta }^{*}$ using $k$ modulation.

The interaction between beam dynamics and the radio frequency (rf) station in circular colliders is complex and can lead to longitudinal coupled-bunch instabilities at high beam currents. The excitation of the cavity higher order modes is traditionally damped using passive devices. But the wakefield developed at the cavity fundamental frequency falls in the frequency range of the rf power system and can, in theory, be compensated by modulating the generator drive. Such a regulation is the responsibility of the low-level rf (llrf) system that measures the cavity field (or beam current) and generates the rf power drive. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) rf was designed for the nominal LHC parameter of 0.55 A DC beam current. At 7 TeV the synchrotron radiation damping time is 13 hours. Damping of the instability growth rates due to the cavity fundamental (400.789 MHz) can only come from the synchrotron tune spread (Landau damping) and will be very small (time constant in the order of 0.1 s). In this work, the ability of the present llrf compensation to prevent coupled-bunch instabilities with the planned high luminosity LHC (HiLumi LHC) doubling of the beam current to 1.1 A DC is investigated. The paper conclusions are based on the measured performances of the present llrf system. Models of the rf and llrf systems were developed at the LHC start-up. Following comparisons with measurements, the system was parametrized using these models. The parametric model then provides a more realistic estimation of the instability growth rates than an ideal model of the rf blocks. With this modeling approach, the key rf settings can be varied around their set value allowing for a sensitivity analysis (growth rate sensitivity to rf and llrf parameters). Finally, preliminary measurements from the LHC at 0.44 A DC are presented to support the conclusions of this work.

A new methodology able to model and reconstruct the transverse trace space of low-emittance electron beams accelerated in the bubble regime of laser-plasma interaction is presented. The single-shot measurement of both the electron energy spectrum and the betatron radiation spectrum is shown to allow a complete measurement of the transverse emittance, including the correlation term. A novel technique to directly measure the betatron oscillation amplitude distribution is described and tested at the SPARC-LAB test facility through the interaction of the ultrashort ultraintense Ti:Sa laser FLAME with a He gas-jet target. Via the exposed technique the beam transverse profile is also retrieved. From the study of the electron transverse dynamics inside the plasma bubble, the nonlinear correlation between the betatron amplitude and the divergence, i.e. the angle with respect the acceleration axis, is found. The angular distribution of the electron beam inside the bubble is retrieved. The knowledge of the trace-space density allows a more accurate measurement of the transverse emittance with respect to previous paradigms.

The LHC collimation system is a critical element for the safe operation of the LHC machine. The necessity of fast accurate positioning of the collimator’s jaws, recently introduced the need to have button beam position monitors directly embedded in the jaws extremities of the LHC tertiary collimators and some secondary collimators. This addition led to a new design of these collimators including ferrites to damp higher order modes instead of rf fingers. In this work we will present the impedance bench measurements and simulations on a TCT (Transverse Tertiary Collimator) prototype including estimations for beam stability for the LHC.

Due to its effective pumping ability, nonevaporable getter (NEG) coating is considered for the vacuum chambers of the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) electron damping rings (EDR). The aim is to suppress fast beam ion instabilities. The electromagnetic (EM) characterization of the NEG properties up to ultra-high frequencies is required for the correct impedance modeling of the damping ring (DR) components. The properties are determined using rectangular waveguides which are coated with NEG. The method is based on a combination of complex transmission coefficient $S_{21}$ measurements with a vector network analyzer (VNA) and 3D simulations using CST Microwave Studio® (CST MWS). The frequency ranges discussed in this paper are 220–330 and 500–750 GHz.

Parametric resonances of beam eigenmodes with a periodic focusing system under the effect of space charge—also called structural instabilities—are the collective counterparts to parametric resonances of single particles or of mechanical systems. Their common feature is that an exponential instability is driven by a temporal modulation of a system parameter. Thus, they are complementary to the more commonly considered space charge single particle resonances, where space charge pseudo-multipole terms are assumed to exist already at finite level in the initial distribution. This article elaborates on the characteristics of such parametric instabilities in 3D bunched beams—as typical in linear accelerators—for modes of second (envelope), third and fourth order, including the transverse coupled “sum envelope instabilities” recently discovered for 2D beams. Noteworthy results are the finding that parametric resonances can be in competition with single particle resonances of twice the order due to overlapping stopbands; furthermore the surprisingly good applicability of the stopband positions and widths obtained from previously published 2D linearised Vlasov stability theory to the 3D non-Kapchinskij-Vladimirskij particle-in-cell code studies presented here.

We study the measurement of transverse diffusion through beam echoes. We revisit earlier observations of echoes in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and apply an updated theoretical model to these measurements. We consider three possible models for the diffusion coefficient and show that only one is consistent with measured echo amplitudes and pulse widths. This model allows us to parameterize the diffusion coefficients as functions of the bunch charge. We demonstrate that echoes can be used to measure diffusion much quicker than present methods and could be useful to a variety of hadron synchrotrons.

A 4-rod deflecting structure is proposed as a possible crab cavity design for the LHC high luminosity upgrade. Crab cavities are required for the LHC luminosity upgrade to provide a greater bunch overlap in the presence of a crossing angle, but must fit in the existing limited space. The structure has two parallel sections consisting of two longitudinally opposing quarter-wave rods, where each rod has the opposite charge from each of its nearest neighbors. The structure is transversely compact because the frequency is dependent on the rod lengths rather than the cavity radius. Simulations were undertaken to investigate the effect of rod shape on surface fields, higher order multipole terms and induced wakefields in order to obtain the optimal rod shape. The simulation results presented show that the addition of focus electrodes or by shaping the rods the sextupole contribution of the cavity voltage can be negated; the sextupole contribution is $321.57\mathrm{mTm}/{\mathrm{m}}^2$, ${\mathrm{E}}_{\text{peak}}=27.7\mathrm{MV}/\mathrm{m}$, and ${\mathrm{B}}_{\text{peak}}=63.9\mathrm{mT}$ at the design voltage of 3 MV. The damping requirements for the LHC are critical and suitable couplers to damp all modes but the operating mode are presented. The results of various testing cycles of the first SRF 4 rod prototype cavity are presented and show that the cavity has reached the required transverse voltage of 3 MV.