A complete characterization of the time-resolved longitudinal beam phase space is important to optimize the final performances of an accelerator, and in particular this is crucial for Free Electron Laser (FEL) facilities. In this paper we propose a novel method to characterize the profile of a relativistic electron bunch by passively streaking the beam using its self-interaction with the transverse wakefield excited by the bunch itself passing off-axis through a dielectric-lined or a corrugated waveguide. Results of a proof-of-principle experiment at the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility are discussed.

This paper explores a hybrid mode rf structure that served as a superconducting radio-frequency coupler. This application achieves a reflection ${\mathrm{S}}_{(1,1)}$ varying from 0 to $-30\mathrm{db}$ and delivers cw power at 7 KW. The coupler has good thermal isolation between the 2 and 300 K sections due to vacuum separation. Only one single hybrid mode can propagate through each section, and no higher order mode is coupled. The analytical and numerical analysis for this coupler is given and the design is optimized. The coupling mechanism to the cavity is also discussed.

Compact laser-driven accelerators are pursued heavily worldwide because they make novel methods and tools invented at national laboratories widely accessible in science, health, security, and technology [V. Malka et al., Principles and applications of compact laser-plasma accelerators, Nat. Phys. 4, 447 (2008)]. Current leading laser-based accelerator technologies [S. P. D. Mangles et al., Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser-plasma interactions, Nature (London) 431, 535 (2004); T. Toncian et al., Ultrafast laser-driven microlens to focus and energy-select mega-electron volt protons, Science 312, 410 (2006); S. Tokita et al. Single-shot ultrafast electron diffraction with a laser-accelerated sub-MeV electron pulse, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 111911 (2009)] rely on a medium to assist the light to particle energy transfer. The medium imposes material limitations or may introduce inhomogeneous fields [J. R. Dwyer et al., Femtosecond electron diffraction: “Making the molecular movie,”, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 364, 741 (2006)]. The advent of few cycle ultraintense radially polarized lasers [S. Carbajo et al., Efficient generation of ultraintense few-cycle radially polarized laser pulses, Opt. Lett. 39, 2487 (2014)] has ushered in a novel accelerator concept [L. J. Wong and F. X. Kärtner, Direct acceleration of an electron in infinite vacuum by a pulsed radially polarized laser beam, Opt. Express 18, 25035 (2010); F. Pierre-Louis et al. Direct-field electron acceleration with ultrafast radially polarized laser beams: Scaling laws and optimization, J. Phys. B 43, 025401 (2010); Y. I. Salamin, Electron acceleration from rest in vacuum by an axicon Gaussian laser beam, Phys. Rev. A 73, 043402 (2006); C. Varin and M. Piché, Relativistic attosecond electron pulses from a free-space laser-acceleration scheme, Phys. Rev. E 74, 045602 (2006); A. Sell and F. X. Kärtner, Attosecond electron bunches accelerated and compressed by radially polarized laser pulses and soft-x-ray pulses from optical undulators, J. Phys. B 47, 015601 (2014)] avoiding the need of a medium or guiding structure entirely to achieve strong longitudinal energy transfer. Here we present the first observation of direct longitudinal laser acceleration of nonrelativistic electrons that undergo highly directional multi-$\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{m}$ accelerating gradients. This demonstration opens a new frontier for direct laser-driven particle acceleration capable of creating well collimated and relativistic attosecond electron bunches [C. Varin and M. Piché, Relativistic attosecond electron pulses from a free-space laser-acceleration scheme, Phys. Rev. E 74, 045602 (2006)] and x-ray pulses [A. Sell and F. X. Kärtner, Attosecond electron bunches accelerated and compressed by radially polarized laser pulses and soft-x-ray pulses from optical undulators, J. Phys. B 47, 015601 (2014)].

This paper presents two-photon photoemission from a copper cathode in an $X$-band photoinjector. We experimentally verified that the electron bunch charge from photoemission out of a copper cathode scales with laser intensity (I) square for 400 nm wavelength photons. We compare this two-photon photoemission process with the single photon process at 266 nm. Despite the high reflectivity ($R$) of the copper surface for 400 nm photons ($R=0.48$) and higher thermal energy of photoelectrons (two-photon at 200 nm) compared to 266 nm photoelectrons, the quantum efficiency of the two-photon photoemission process (400 nm) exceeds the single-photon process (266 nm) when the incident laser intensity is above $300\mathrm{GW}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. At the same laser pulse energy ($E$) and other experimental conditions, emitted charge scales inversely with the laser pulse duration. A thermal emittance of 2.7 mm-mrad per mm root mean square (rms) was measured on our cathode which exceeds by sixty percent larger compared to the theoretical predictions, but this discrepancy is similar to previous experimental thermal emittance on copper cathodes with 266 nm photons. The damage of the cathode surface of our first-generation $X$-band gun from both rf breakdowns and laser impacts mostly explains this result. Using a 400 nm laser can substantially simplify the photoinjector system, and make it an alternative solution for compact pulsed electron sources.

The Oide effect considers the synchrotron radiation in the final focusing quadrupole, and it sets a lower limit on the vertical beam size at the interaction point, particularly relevant for high-energy linear colliders. The theory of the Oide effect was derived considering only the second moment of the radiation in the focusing plane of the magnet. This article addresses the theoretical calculation of the radiation effect on the beam size considering the first and second moments of the radiation and both focusing and defocusing planes of the quadrupole. The effect for a Gaussian beam is referred to as 2D-Oide; however, an alternative beam size figure is given that could represent better the effect on the minimum achievable ${\beta }_y^{*}$. The CLIC 3 TeV final quadrupole (QD0) and beam parameters are used to compare the theoretical results from the Oide effect and the 2D-Oide effect with particle tracking in placet. The 2D-Oide effect is demonstrated to be important, as it increases by 17% the contribution to the beam size. Further insight into the aberrations induced by the synchrotron radiation opens the possibility to partially correct the 2D-Oide effect with octupole magnets. A beam size reduction of 4% is achieved in the simplest configuration, using a single octupole.

We propose a new concept of an electron source for ultrafast electron diffraction with sub-10-fs temporal resolution. Electrons are generated in a laser-plasma accelerator, able to deliver femtosecond electron bunches at 5 MeV energy with a kilohertz repetition rate. The possibility of producing this electron source is demonstrated using particle-in-cell simulations. We then use particle-tracking simulations to show that this electron beam can be transported and manipulated in a realistic beam line, in order to reach parameters suitable for electron diffraction. The beam line consists of realistic static magnetic optics and introduces no temporal jitter. We demonstrate numerically that electron bunches with 5-fs duration and containing 1.5 fC per bunch can be produced, with a transverse coherence length exceeding 2 nm, as required for electron diffraction.

An x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), SACLA, designed to open up new science, was constructed for generating coherent x rays with a peak power of more than 10 GW and a very short pulse of below 30 fs. This feature demands a very highly short-term temporal stability of less than 50 fs to the acceleration rf field of SACLA. For this reason, we developed a timing and low-level rf (LLRF) system for SACLA based on that of the SPring8 compact SASE source (SCSS) test accelerator for verifying the feasibility of an XFEL. The performance of the system using the in-phase and quadrature rf manipulation method was improved from SCSS’s system. Since the facility length of SACLA is 700 m, which is 10 times longer than that of the SCSS test accelerator, a phase-stabilized optical-fiber system designed to transmit time standard rf signals with low loss was also developed and deployed. This optical-fiber system equips fiber optical-length feedback control in order to mitigate environmental effects, such as temperature and humidity changes. On the other hand, the demanded maximum rf temporal stability is less than 50 fs, which is almost 10 times smaller than that of the SCSS test accelerator. Hence, reducing electric noise and increasing the temperature stability around timing and LLRF instruments were necessary and realized with a very low-noise power supply and a hemathermal 19-inch enclosure. The short-term temporal performance of the timing LLRF system finally attained a temporal stability of less than 13.6 fs in rms measured by a beam arrival-time measurement. This stability greatly helps to achieve the stable x-ray lasing of SACLA for routine operation during user experiments.

We propose a scheme to generate narrow-band GeV photons, $\gamma$-rays, via Compton scattering of hard x-ray photons in an x-ray free-electron laser oscillator. Generated $\gamma$-rays show a narrow-band spectrum with a sharp peak, $\sim 0.1\%$ (FWHM), due to large momentum transfer from electrons to photons. The $\gamma$-ray beam has a spectral density of $\sim {10}^2\mathrm{ph}/(\mathrm{MeV}\mathrm{s})$ with a typical set of parameters based on a 7-GeV electron beam operated at 3-MHz repetition, Such $\gamma$-rays will be a unique probe for studying hadron physics. Features of the $\gamma$-ray source, flux, spectrum, polarization, tunability and energy resolution are discussed.

We studied the coupled beam motion in a storage ring between the transverse and longitudinal directions introduced by crab cavities. The analytic form of the linear decoupling transformation is derived. The equilibrium bunch distribution in an electron storage ring with a crab cavity is given, including contribution to the eigenemittance induced by the crab cavity. Application to the short pulse generation scheme using crab cavities is considered.

The concept of permanent-magnet variable-period undulator (VPU) was proposed several years ago and has found few implementations so far. The VPUs have some advantages as compared with conventional undulators, e.g., a wider range of radiation wavelength tuning and the option to increase the number of poles for shorter periods. Both these advantages will be realized in the VPU under development now at Budker INP. In this paper, we present the results of 2D and 3D magnetic field simulations and discuss some design features of this VPU.

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory has been operating since 2000. Over the past decade, thanks to the continuously increased bunch intensity and reduced ${\beta }^{*}\mathrm{s}$ at the interaction points, the peak luminosity in the polarized proton operation has been increased by more than two orders of magnitude. In this article, we will present the operational observations at the routine proton physics stores. The mechanisms for the beam loss, transverse emittance growth, and bunch lengthening are analyzed. Numerical calculations and multiparticle tracking are used to model these observations.

It is shown by particle-in-cell simulations that a narrow electron beam with high energy and charge density can be generated in a subcritical-density plasma by two consecutive laser pulses. Although the first laser pulse dissipates rapidly, the second pulse can propagate for a long distance in the thin wake channel created by the first pulse and can further accelerate the preaccelerated electrons therein. Given that the second pulse also self-focuses, the resulting electron beam has a narrow waist and high charge and energy densities. Such beams are useful for enhancing the target-back space-charge field in target normal sheath acceleration of ions and bremsstrahlung sources, among others.

Dark current can spoil witness bunch beam quality and acceleration efficiency in particle beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerators. In advanced schemes, hot spots generated by the drive beam or the wakefield can release electrons from higher ionization threshold levels in the plasma media. These electrons may be trapped inside the plasma wake and will then accumulate dark current, which is generally detrimental for a clear and unspoiled plasma acceleration process. Strategies for generating clean and robust, dark current free plasma wake cavities are devised and analyzed, and crucial aspects for experimental realization of such optimized scenarios are discussed.

A higher-order ${\mathrm{TM}}_{02n}$ mode accelerating structure is proposed based on a novel concept of dielectric loaded rf cavities. This accelerating structure consists of ultralow-loss dielectric cylinders and disks with irises which are periodically arranged in a metallic enclosure. Unlike conventional dielectric loaded accelerating structures, most of the rf power is stored in the vacuum space near the beam axis, leading to a significant reduction of the wall loss, much lower than that of conventional normal-conducting linac structures. This allows us to realize an extremely high quality factor and a very high shunt impedance at room temperature. A simulation of a 5 cell prototype design with an existing alumina ceramic indicates an unloaded quality factor of the accelerating mode over 120 000 and a shunt impedance exceeding $650\mathrm{M}\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{m}$ at room temperature.