We report on a recent set of measurements of the transverse wakefields from longitudinally tapered collimators. The measurements were performed with a low-emittance 1.19 GeV beam in the SLAC linac by inserting a collimator aperture into the beam path and reconstructing the vertical deflection of the beam as a function of the vertical position of the aperture. Each collimator in the experiment was designed to present a relatively large transverse impedance and to minimize the impedance from other contributions such as resistivity. In addition, the collimator parameters were chosen to provide some insight into the scaling of the transverse geometric wakefield as a function of the collimator’s geometry. A description of the experimental apparatus and the aperture design, the method of data collection and analysis, and a comparison to theoretical and numerical predictions are presented.

High-gain free-electron lasers (FELs) are being developed as extremely bright sources for a next-generation x-ray facility. In this paper, we review the basic theory of the start-up, the exponential growth, and the saturation of the high-gain process, emphasizing the self-amplified spontaneous emission. The radiation characteristics of an x-ray FEL, including its transverse coherence, temporal characteristics, and harmonic content, are discussed. FEL performance in the presence of machine errors and undulator wakefields is examined. Various enhancement schemes through seeding and beam manipulations are summarized.

By applying a time reversal to the multiturn extraction method recently proposed, a novel approach to perform multiturn injection is described. It is based on the use of stable islands of the horizontal phase space generated by means of sextupoles and octupoles. A particle beam can be injected into stable islands of phase space, and then a slow tune variation allows merging the beam trapped inside the islands. The results of numerical simulations will be presented and discussed in detail, showing how to use the proposed approach to generate hollow bunches in the transverse phase space, and how different resonances can be used. The dependence of the final beam parameters on the key quantities of the proposed approach, such as emittance of the initial beam and the way the resonance is crossed, is investigated. Furthermore, a comparison of the proposed approach against the classical multiturn injection without the use of stable islands is carried out.

In this paper, we compare the 10 kW-Upgrade experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, VA, with numerical simulations using the MEDUSA code. MEDUSA is a three-dimensional FEL simulation code that is capable of treating both amplifiers and oscillators in both the steady-state and time-dependent regimes. MEDUSA employs a Gaussian modal expansion, and treats oscillators by decomposing the modal representation at the exit of the wiggler into the vacuum Gaussian modes of the resonator and then analytically determining the propagation of these vacuum resonator modes through the resonator back to the entrance of the wiggler in synchronism with the next electron bunch. The bunch length in the experiment is of the order of 380–420 fsec FWHM. The experiment operates at a wavelength of about 1.6 microns and the wiggler is 30 periods in length; hence, the slippage time is about 160 fsec. Because of this, slippage is important, and must be included in the simulation. The observed single pass gain is 65%–75% and, given the experimental uncertainties, this is in good agreement with the simulation. Multipass simulations including the cavity detuning yield an output power of 12.4 kW, which is also in good agreement with the experiment.

A grating-waveguide free-electron laser is driven by an axial electron beam that propagates between two planar gratings. This investigation addresses the mode analysis, gain calculation, and frequency tuning for such a device with arbitrary longitudinal and transverse displacements between the two gratings. It demonstrates that a grating waveguide free-electron laser is a promising coherent THz emitter when it is adopted as a backward-wave oscillator or a distributed-feedback oscillator.

We report on a successful implementation of a three-dimensional wavelet-based solver for the Poisson equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions, optimized for use in particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The solver is based on the operator formulation of the conjugate gradient algorithm, for which effectively diagonal preconditioners are available in wavelet bases. Because of the recursive nature of PIC simulations, a good initial approximation to the iterative solution is always readily available, which we demonstrate to be a key advantage in terms of overall computational speed. While the Laplacian remains sparse in a wavelet representation, the wavelet-decomposed potential and density can be rendered sparse through a procedure that amounts to simultaneous compression and denoising of the data. We explain how this procedure can be carried out in a controlled and near-optimal way, and show the effect it has on the overall solver performance. After testing the solver in a stand-alone mode, we integrated it into the IMPACT-T beam dynamics particle-in-cell code and extensively benchmarked it against the IMPACT-T with the native FFT-based Poisson solver. We present and discuss these benchmarking results, as well as the results of modeling the Fermi/NICADD photoinjector using IMPACT-T with the wavelet-based solver.

We report the first unambiguous demonstration of near-field imaging of optical diffraction radiation (ODR). The source of the ODR was an aluminum metal reflective surface with a 7-GeV electron beam passing nearby its single edge. Because of the high Lorentz factor involved, appreciable ODR is emitted at visible wavelengths even for impact parameters of 1 to 2 mm, so standard imaging techniques were employed. The experimental results are compared to a simple near-field model. We show that the ODR signals are sensitive to both beam size and position. Applications to multi-GeV beams in transport lines in the major synchrotron radiation facilities, x-ray free-electron lasers, energy recovering linacs, and the International Linear Collider are possible.

A time domain dynamic modeling and simulation tool for beam-cavity interactions in the Low Energy Ring (LER) and High Energy Ring (HER) at the Positron-Electron Project (PEP-II) is presented. Dynamic simulation results for PEP-II are compared to measurements of the actual machine. The motivation for this tool is to explore the stability margins and performance limits of PEP-II radio-frequency (RF) systems at future higher currents and upgraded RF configurations. It also serves as a test bed for new control algorithms and can define the ultimate limits of the low-level RF (LLRF) architecture. The time domain program captures the dynamic behavior of the beam-cavity-LLRF interaction based on a reduced model. The ring current is represented by macrobunches. Multiple RF stations in the ring are represented via one or two macrocavities. Each macrocavity captures the overall behavior of all the 2 or 4 cavity RF stations. Station models include nonlinear elements in the klystron and signal processing. This enables modeling the principal longitudinal impedance control loops interacting via the longitudinal beam model. The dynamics of the simulation model are validated by comparing the measured growth rates for the LER with simulation results. The simulated behavior of the LER at increased operation currents is presented via low-mode instability growth rates. Different control strategies are compared and the effects of both the imperfections in the LLRF signal processing and the nonlinear drivers and klystrons are explored.

Errors in delivering a uniformly distributed radiation dose to biological and material samples exposed to charged particle beams are a significant problem for experimenters. In this paper, we discuss data collected on the uniform beam distributions produced for NASA’s Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), using a method that was conceived theoretically and tested experimentally at BNL. This method [N. Tsoupas et al., Nucl. Sci. Eng. 126, 71 (1997)] of generating uniform beam distributions on a plane normal to the beam’s direction relies only on magnetically focusing the transported beam; no collimation of the beam is required or any other type of interaction of the beam with materials other than the target material. The method compares favorably with alternative methods of producing such distributions, and it can be applied to the entire energy spectrum of charged particle beams that are delivered to the NSRL’s experiments by the Booster for the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at BNL.

Linear coupling in a storage ring is conveniently analyzed in terms of transformations that put the single-turn map into block-diagonal form. Such a transformation allows us to define new variables, in which the dynamics are uncoupled. In this paper it is shown how a similar approach may be taken to nonlinear coupling, but that to decouple the map completely one needs to use a time-dependent canonical transformation. In Sec. III, we present a numerical example, based upon the analysis presented in previous sections, of a nonlinear transformation. In part for pedagogical reasons, and in part to make our use of notation clear, in Appendix A we reproduce the theory, along with a numerical example, of the well-known result for a linear transformation.

The New Experimental Storage Ring (NESR) of the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research is designed for versatile operation with ions and antiprotons. Both stable ions and rare isotope beams will be used for internal experiments. The ion beams can be decelerated to a minimum energy of $4\mathrm{MeV}/u$ and extracted to a low energy experimental area. Antiprotons will be decelerated from 3 GeV to a minimum energy of 30 MeV and transferred to the Facility for Low-energy Antiproton and Ion Research. Electron cooling will provide high quality beams for experiments, assist the deceleration process, and allow the accumulation of rare isotope beams by stacking in longitudinal phase space. Specific rf systems are foreseen for the various operation modes.

Substantially more than half of the electromagnetic nuclear physics experiments conducted at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Laboratory) require highly polarized electron beams, often at high average current. Spin-polarized electrons are produced by photoemission from various GaAs-based semiconductor photocathodes, using circularly polarized laser light with photon energy slightly larger than the semiconductor band gap. The photocathodes are prepared by activation of the clean semiconductor surface to negative electron affinity using cesium and oxidation. Historically, in many laboratories worldwide, these photocathodes have had short operational lifetimes at high average current, and have often deteriorated fairly quickly in ultrahigh vacuum even without electron beam delivery. At Jefferson Lab, we have developed a polarized electron source in which the photocathodes degrade exceptionally slowly without electron emission, and in which ion back bombardment is the predominant mechanism limiting the operational lifetime of the cathodes during electron emission. We have reproducibly obtained cathode 1/e dark lifetimes over two years, and 1/e charge density and charge lifetimes during electron beam delivery of over $2\times {10}^5\mathrm{C}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ and 200 C, respectively. This source is able to support uninterrupted high average current polarized beam delivery to three experimental halls simultaneously for many months at a time. Many of the techniques we report here are directly applicable to the development of GaAs photoemission electron guns to deliver high average current, high brightness unpolarized beams.

Phase shifts in the propagating electromagnetic field of a Cherenkov free-electron laser (CFEL) can affect its gain. The phase velocity of an electromagnetic wave varies, for example, when the lined waveguide is inhomogeneous along its length. In this paper, we study quantitatively the saturated power of a particular CFEL at both weak and strong electron-beam pumping when the inner radius of the liner contains fluctuations along the waveguide. We show that the gain bandwidth of the CFEL is substantially broadened when the CFEL is pumped with a high-current beam. We also show that the design of a CFEL needs to include optimization with respect to sensitivity to liner fluctuations, especially for weakly pumped CFELs, that is, CFELs that use a low-current electron-beam density. This optimization can be relaxed for more strongly pumped CFELs.

A high-voltage pulsed electron gun has been developed for the low-emittance injector system of the x-ray free electron laser (FEL) project at SPring-8. A single-crystal ${\mathrm{CeB}}_6$ cathode was chosen as a thermionic emitter because of its excellent emission properties, i.e., smooth surface, high emission density, uniform emission density, and high resistance to contamination. A gun voltage of $-500\mathrm{kV}$ was determined as a compromise between the need for suppressing emittance growth and reducing the risks of high-voltage arcing. We have succeeded in producing a 500 keV beam with 1 A peak current and $3\mu \mathrm{s}$ width. We have also measured the beam emittance by means of the double-slit method and obtained an extremely low emittance of $1.1\pi \mathrm{mm}\mathrm{mrad}$ (normalized, rms). These results are very promising for the x-ray FEL. In this paper, we describe the design and basic performance of the ${\mathrm{CeB}}_6$ electron gun, and report the emittance measurement experiments.

The dynamics of an electron in crossed laser fields is investigated analytically. Two different standing wave configurations are compared. The counterpropagating laser waves are either linearly or circularly polarized. Both configurations have in common that there are one-dimensional trajectories on which the electron can oscillate with vanishing Lorentz force. The dynamics is analyzed for the situations when the electron moves in the vicinity of these ideal axes. If the laser intensities imply nonrelativistic electron dynamics, the system is described quantum mechanically. A semiclassical treatment renders the strongly relativistic regime accessible as well. To describe relativistic wave packets, the results of the classical analysis are employed for a Monte Carlo ensemble. This allows for a comparison of the wave packet dynamics for both configurations in the strongly relativistic regime. It is found for certain cases that relativity slows down the dynamics, i.e., for higher laser intensities, wave packet spreading and the drift away from the ideal axis of vanishing Lorentz force are shown to be increasingly suppressed.

The duration of the x-ray pulse generated at a synchrotron light source is typically tens of picoseconds. Shorter pulses are highly desired by the users. In electron storage rings, the vertical beam size is usually orders of magnitude less than the bunch length due to radiation damping; therefore, a shorter pulse can be obtained by slitting the vertically tilted bunch. Zholents proposed tilting the bunch using rf deflection. We found that tilted bunches can also be generated by a dipole magnet kick. A vertical tilt is developed after the kick in the presence of nonzero chromaticity. The tilt was successfully observed and a 4.2-ps pulse was obtained from a 27-ps electron bunch at the Advanced Photon Source. Based on this principle, we propose a short-pulse generation scheme that produces picosecond x-ray pulses at a repetition rate of 1–2 kHz, which can be used for pump-probe experiments.

Possibilities are studied for the optimization of EURISOL rare nuclide yields in specific regions of the nuclear chart by building the driver accelerator in a way that enables accelerating several additional beam species, to specific energies, besides the baseline 1 GeV proton beam. Nuclide production rates with these driver beams are compared to the production rates expected with the 1 GeV proton beam in the direct-production and the high-power-converter scenarios. Arguments are presented to show that several additional driver-beam scenarios could provide substantial benefit for the production of nuclides in specific regions of the nuclear chart. The quantitative values in this report are preliminary in the sense that they depend on assumptions on the values of some key parameters which are subject to technical development, e.g., maximum beam intensities or limits on the target heat load. The different scenarios are compared from the aspect of nuclide yields. The arguments presented here, when complemented by the corresponding technological and financial considerations, are intended to serve as a part of the basis for decisions on the design of the driver accelerator of EURISOL.

The Pedersen analysis of the low-level rf feedback system assumes that all bunches oscillate in phase which corresponds to the lowest coupled-bunch mode. This analysis is extended here to take into account all other coupled-bunch modes what might be important for the strongly detuned cavities in large storage rings such as PEP-II.

Incoherent emittance growth caused by a strong nonlinear interaction between beam and electron cloud is discussed. This emittance growth arises from nonlinear diffusion related to chaos and resonances, and strongly depends on the number of degrees of freedom of the interacting system. A simple model, in which beam particles interact with a fixed round charge distribution, is used to study the mechanism of the emittance growth. The same discussion can be applied to the emittance growth due to beam-beam interactions in colliders and space charge effects in low energy proton rings.