A detailed comparison between photon acceleration and frequency-domain interferometry, for laser wakefield diagnostics, is presented here. The dispersion effects on the probe beam and the implications of an arbitrary phase velocity of the plasma wave are discussed for both diagnostic techniques. In the presence of a large amplitude plasma wave and for long interaction distances, significant frequency up-shifts are observed. The importance of this effect on the determination of the phase and frequency shift measurements given by the two techniques is also analyzed. The accuracy of both diagnostics is discussed and some of their technical problems are reviewed.

The Cornell electron storage ring (CESR) phase-III upgrade plan includes very strong permanent magnet quadrupoles in front of the cryostat for the superconducting quadrupoles and physically as close as possible to the interaction point. Together with the superconducting quadrupoles, they provide tighter vertical focusing at the interaction point. The quadrupoles are built with neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) material and operate inside the 15 kG solenoid field. Requirements on the field quality and stability of these quadrupoles are discussed and test results are presented.

Luminosity-driven channeling extraction has been observed for the first time using a 900 GeV circulating proton beam at the superconducting Fermilab Tevatron. The extraction efficiency was found to be about 30%. A 150 kHz beam was obtained during luminosity-driven extraction with a tolerable background rate at the collider experiments. A 900 kHz beam was obtained when the background limits were doubled. This is the highest energy at which channeling has been observed.

We recently developed a general analysis for an azimuthally asymmetric rectangular slot in the inner conductor of a coaxial liner, which allowed us to investigate the coupling impedance numerically. In the present paper we obtain analytic expressions for a small hole of arbitrary shape. Specifically, we go beyond the quasistatic (Bethe) approximation to explore and understand the structure of the impedance in the frequency region near the cutoffs of the inner beam pipe and outer coaxial structure. Finally, we extend our analytic analysis to a hole in a wall of finite thickness.

We present an empirical investigation of the correcting coils behavior used to homogenize the field distribution of the race-track microtron accelerator end magnets. These end magnets belong to the second stage of the 30.0 MeV cw electron accelerator under construction at IFUSP, the race-track microtron booster, in which the beam energy is raised from 1.97 to 5.1 MeV. The correcting coils are attached to the pole faces and are based on the inhomogeneities of the magnetic field measured. The performance of these coils, when operating the end magnets with currents that differ by $\pm 10\%$ from the one used in the mappings that originated the coils copper leads, is presented. For one of the magnets, adjusting conveniently the current of the correcting coils makes it possible to homogenize field distributions of different intensities, once their shapes are practically identical to those that originated the coils. For the other one, the shapes are changed and the coils are less efficient. This is related to intrinsic factors that determine the inhomogeneities. However, we obtained uniformity of 0.001% in both cases.

First results from the research and development program PARRNE (Production d'Atomes Radioactifs Riches en NEutrons) are presented. Its aim is the investigation of the optimum conditions for the production of neutron-rich fission fragment beams extracted from thick targets irradiated by fast neutrons.