In linear transformer drivers [Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 12, 050402 (2009); Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 12, 050401 (2009)] as well as any other linear induction accelerator cavities, ferromagnetic cores are used to prevent the current from flowing along the induction cavity walls which are in parallel with the load. But if the core is made of conductive material, the applied voltage pulse generates the eddy current in the core itself which heats the core and therefore also reduces the overall linear transformer driver (LTD) efficiency. The energy loss due to generation of the eddy current in the cores depends on the specific resistivity of the core material, the design of the core, as well as on the distribution of the eddy current in the core tape during the remagnetizing process. In this paper we investigate how the eddy current is distributed in a core tape with an arbitrary shape hysteresis loop. Our model is based on the textbook knowledge related to the eddy current generation in ferromagnetics with rectangular hysteresis loop, and in usual conductors. For the reader’s convenience, we reproduce some most important details of this knowledge in our paper. The model predicts that the same core would behave differently depending on how fast the applied voltage pulse is: in the high frequency limit, the equivalent resistance of the core reduces during the pulse whereas in the low frequency limit it is constant. An important inference is that the energy loss due to the eddy current generation can be reduced by increasing the cross section of the core over the minimum value which is required to avoid its saturation. The conclusions of the model are confirmed with experimental observations presented at the end of the paper.

Future ultrashort ${10}^{22}–{10}^{25}\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$ laser pulses offer the possibility of producing ultrashort monoenergetic electron beams in the GeV–TeV level by direct laser ponderomotive force acceleration (LPFA) in distances of millimeters to about 1 m. A scheme is proposed that a thin solid foil and a thick solid foil are placed on the laser axis, where the thin foil supplies the electron source for LPFA and the thick foil reflects the laser away, however allows the accelerated electrons to go through. By optimizing the distance between the foils, one can obtain the maximum electron beam energy. This scheme is demonstrated by particle-in-cell simulations.

It is well known that seeding can be used to produce narrow-bandwidth and fully coherent x-ray free-electron lasers (FELs). Self-seeding, which uses an extra undulator to generate the seed pulse, is perhaps one of the most promising methods to accomplish this. In the hard x-ray regime with high-energy electrons, this method requires a large magnetic chicane to match the path-length delay of the x-ray monochromator that selects a narrow bandwidth of radiation. Such a chicane not only takes a large footprint to build, but also may degrade the electron-beam qualities through incoherent and coherent synchrotron radiation. In this paper, we present an alternative two-bunch self-seeding scheme. The two bunches are precisely separated to match the x-ray delay of the monochromator and eliminate the need for a long, complex magnetic chicane. The spectrally filtered self-amplified spontaneous emission x-ray pulse produced by the first bunch is combined with the second electron bunch at the entrance of the second undulator and then amplified to the saturation level. We present start-to-end simulation results based on the linac coherent light source hard x-ray FEL and show that this method can produce a nearly fully coherent x-ray pulse at a few GW power level.

This paper proposes a new method for generating coherent radiation in the THz region from an electron storage ring. When the vertical chromaticity is modulated by an ac sextupole magnet, a vertical beam deflection caused by a kicker magnet produces a wavy spatial structure in the electron bunch after a number of revolutions. The vertically polarized synchrotron radiation from the wavy bunch becomes coherent at the wavelength of the spatial structure. This narrow bandwidth radiation is extremely strong, can be tuned by controlling ring parameters, and is easy to generate. By appropriate choice of ring parameters it is possible to generate radiation at 1 THz.

A single-pass high-gain x-ray free electron laser (FEL) calls for a high quality electron bunch. In particular, for a seeded FEL amplifier and for a harmonic generation FEL, the electron bunch initial energy profile uniformity is crucial for generating an FEL with a narrow bandwidth. After the acceleration, compression, and transportation, the electron bunch energy profile entering the undulator can acquire temporal nonuniformity. We study the influence of the electron bunch initial energy profile nonuniformity on the FEL performance. Intrinsically, for a harmonic generation FEL, the harmonic generation FEL in the final radiator starts with an electron bunch having energy modulation acquired in the previous stages, due to the FEL interaction at those FEL wavelengths and their harmonics. The influence of this electron bunch energy nonuniformity on the harmonic generation FEL in the final radiator is then studied.

The transverse dynamics of an intense charged particle beam propagating through a periodic quadrupole focusing lattice is described by the nonlinear Vlasov-Maxwell system of equations, where the propagation distances play the role of time. To determine matched-beam quasiequilibrium distribution functions, one needs to determine a dynamical invariant for the beam particles moving in the combined applied and self-generated fields. In this paper, a perturbative Hamiltonian transformation method is developed which is an expansion in the particle’s vacuum phase advance $\overline{ϵ}\sim {\sigma }_v/2\pi$, treated as a small parameter, which is used to transform away the fast particle orbit oscillations and obtain the average Hamiltonian accurate to order ${\overline{ϵ}}^3$. The average Hamiltonian is an approximate invariant of the original system, and can be used to determine self-consistent beam quasiequilibrium solutions that are matched to the focusing channel. The equation determining the average self-field potential is derived for general boundary conditions by taking into account the average contribution of the charges induced on the boundary. It is shown for a cylindrical conducting boundary that the average self-field potential acquires an octupole component, which results in the average motion of some beam particles being nonintegrable and their trajectories chaotic. This chaotic behavior of the beam particles may significantly change the nature of the Landau damping (or growth) of collective excitations supported by an intense charged particle beam.

Space-charge effects, being one of the most significant collective effects, play an important role in high intensity cyclotrons. However, for cyclotrons with small turn separation, other existing effects are of equal importance. Interactions of radially neighboring bunches are also present, but their combined effects have not yet been investigated in any great detail. In this paper, a new particle in the cell-based self-consistent numerical simulation model is presented for the first time. The model covers neighboring bunch effects and is implemented in the three-dimensional object-oriented parallel code OPAL-cycl, a flavor of the OPAL framework. We discuss this model together with its implementation and validation. Simulation results are presented from the PSI 590 MeV ring cyclotron in the context of the ongoing high intensity upgrade program, which aims to provide a beam power of 1.8 MW (CW) at the target destination.

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva stores 360 MJ per beam of protons at the top machine energy. This amount of energy storage presents a considerable challenge to the machine protection systems designed to protect both the machine and the six LHC experiments. This paper provides an overview of the machine protection systems relevant to the protection of the experiments, and demonstrates their operation and level of protection through a series of injection and stored beam failure scenarios. We conclude that the systems provide sufficient coverage for the protection of the experiments as far as reasonably possible.

In this paper, studies on applying a new electrolyte to treat the surfaces of Nb sheets, which was called buffered electropolishing (BEP), were reported. Through studies of the BEP I-V characteristic and optimization of main parameters such as acid agitation, temperature, etc., much faster Nb polishing rate and smoother surface finish were achieved in comparison with those obtained from the conventional electropolishing (EP). The average polishing rate could reach around $2.5\mu \mathrm{m}/\min$. It was over 7 times faster than that of the traditional EP. Meanwhile, the average surface mean square root roughness was around 50 nm over an area of $(200\times 200)\mu {\mathrm{m}}^2$. This study shows BEP has a great potential to replace the traditional EP process and becomes a new generation of technology for treating Nb superconducting radio frequency cavities.

We use the program ECHO to study numerically the loss factor of axisymmetric cavities and collimators with and without tapering. We consider a Gaussian driving bunch of length $\sigma$, and structures with inner radius $b$, outer radius $d$, cavity gap (or collimator inner length) $g$, and taper length $L$. In all cases we consider a short bunch with $\sigma \ll b$. For the untapered structures ($L=0$), in certain regimes, we describe our numerical results using the known expressions for a step transition and for the diffraction model. In addition, we identify new regimes where $g<\sigma$ and/or $d-b<\sigma$, for which the data must be described by new phenomenological expressions. For a tapered collimator with $d-b>b$, we present a phenomenological formula which accurately describes the dependence of the loss factor on the parameters $\sigma$, $b$, $d$, and $L$. This formula also holds for a tapered cavity with $g>d^2/\sigma$ and $d-b>b$.

The behavior of orbits in charged-particle beam transport systems, including both linear and circular accelerators as well as final focus sections and spectrometers, can depend sensitively on nonlinear fringe-field and high-order-multipole effects in the various beam-line elements. The inclusion of these effects requires a detailed and realistic model of the interior and fringe fields, including their high spatial derivatives. A collection of surface fitting methods has been developed for extracting this information accurately from three-dimensional field data on a grid, as provided by various three-dimensional finite-element field codes. Based on these realistic field models, Lie or other methods may be used to compute accurate design orbits and accurate transfer maps about these orbits. Part I of this work presents a treatment of straight-axis magnetic elements, while part II will treat bending dipoles with large sagitta. An exactly soluble but numerically challenging model field is used to provide a rigorous collection of performance benchmarks.

Baking is necessary to improve high accelerating gradient performances of superconducting niobium cavities. Ten years after this discovery in 1998, the understanding of this effect still resists a lot of theoretical explanations. For the first time, positron annihilation spectroscopy performed on niobium samples reveals the increase after baking of positrons trapped under the Nb surface. Presence of hydrogen-vacancy complexes and their dissociation by baking could both explain rf losses observed at high fields (Q drop) and its cure (baking effect).

We propose using a beam excited 56 MHz radio frequency (rf) niobium quarter wave resonator (QWR) to enhance the luminosity and bunching of the RHIC’s (relativistic heavy ion collider’s) beam. From experience with similar structures, multipacting is expected but is to be avoided in a storage ring; therefore, we undertook extensive simulations with the Multipac 2.1 2D code. They revealed that multipacting occurs in various bands up to a peak surface electric field of $50\mathrm{kV}/\mathrm{m}$, and is concentrated mostly above the beam gap and on the outer conductor. To resolve this issue, we introduced a ripple structure into the outer conductor and successfully eliminated multipacting.

A simple, passive method for producing an adjustable train of picosecond electron bunches is demonstrated. The key component of this method is an electron beam mask consisting of an array of parallel wires that selectively spoils the beam emittance. This mask is positioned in a high magnetic dispersion, low beta-function region of the beam line. The incoming electron beam striking the mask has a time/energy correlation that corresponds to a time/position correlation at the mask location. The mask pattern is transformed into a time pattern or train of bunches when the dispersion is brought back to zero downstream of the mask. Results are presented of a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating this novel technique that was performed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Accelerator Test Facility. This technique allows for easy tailoring of the bunch train for a particular application, including varying the bunch width and spacing, and enabling the generation of a trailing witness bunch.

The Positron-Electron Project II (PEP-II) B Factory collider ended the final phase of operation at nearly twice the design current and 4X the design luminosity. In the ultimate operation state, eight 1.2 MW radio-frequency (rf) klystrons and 12 accelerating cavities were added beyond the original implementation, and the two storage rings were operating with longitudinal instability growth rates roughly 5X in excess of the original design estimates. From initial commissioning there has been continual adaptation of the low level rf (LLRF) control strategies, configuration tools, and some new hardware in response to unanticipated technical challenges. This paper offers a perspective on the original LLRF and longitudinal instability control design, and highlights via two examples the system evolution from the original design estimates through to the final machine with $1.2\times {10}^{34}$ luminosity. The impact of unanticipated signals in the coupled-bunch longitudinal feedback and the significance of nonlinear processing elements in the LLRF systems are presented. We present valuable “lessons learned” which are of interest to designers of next generation feedback and impedance controlled LLRF systems.

In pulsed-beam free-electron devices, longitudinal space-charge fields result in collective effects leading to an expansion of short electron bunches along their trajectory. This effect restricts an application of intense ultrashort electron pulses in free-electron radiation sources. A careful theoretical treatment is required in order to achieve an accurate description of the self-fields and the resulted electron beam dynamics. In this paper, longitudinal space-charge fields are considered in the framework of a three-dimensional, space-frequency approach. The model is based on the expansion of the total electromagnetic field (including self-fields) in terms of transverse eigenmodes of the (cold) cavity, in which the field is excited and propagates. The electromagnetic field, originally obtained in the model as a solution of the wave equation, is shown to satisfy also Gauss’s law. We applied the theory to derive an analytical expression for the longitudinal electric field of a pointlike charge, moving along a waveguide at a constant velocity. This enables consideration and study of the role played by different terms of the resulted expressions, such as components arising from forward and backward waves, propagating waves, and under cutoff frequencies, and so on. Possible simplifications in evaluation of longitudinal space-charge fields are discussed.

Collimators are commonly used in particle accelerators to prevent particles traveling at large amplitudes from hitting the vacuum chamber. We derive here, for a single-pass linac, a one-dimensional analytical expression for the efficiency of a two-stage fully absorbing collimation system (CS), based on the CS geometrical and optical properties only. We show that, in the presence of physical space or optics constraints, the best betatron phase advance in between the first and the second collimation stage may differ from the usually prescribed $\pi /2$. The analytically computed collimation efficiency is then compared to particle tracking results.

Many future projects plan using high-current, high-energy, multipass energy-recovery linacs that are based on superconducting rf (SRF) cavities. The necessity of ensuring the transverse stability of the beam in such accelerators imposes strict limits on the high order modes (HOMs) impedances, and demands effective HOM damping. The latter requirement often precludes achieving a high real-estate accelerating gradient in such structures. The modular structure of long SRF linacs also requires incorporating vacuum flanges; however, these flanges have surface contacts and cannot tolerate strong rf fields. Locating them in the low-field areas of the linac structure may involve considerably elongating the intermodular interfaces, a change that would reduce the linac’s real-estate accelerating gradient. In this paper, I propose a novel method to resolve this issue, using compact interconnects between the SRF cavities wherein to locate effective HOM dampers and vacuum flanges.