The physics basis for an electron-beam-based Compton scattering x-ray source is investigated for single-shot experiments at the major high-energy-density facilities, such as the Omega Laser Facility, National Ignition Facility, and $Z$ pulsed power facility. A source of monoenergetic ($\delta \epsilon /\epsilon <5\%$) 10- to 50-keV x rays can be produced by scattering of a short-pulse optical laser by a 23- to 53-MeV electron beam and collimating the scattered photons. The number and spectrum of scattered photons are calculated as a function of electron packet charge, electron and laser pulse duration, laser intensity, and collision geometry. A source delivering greater than ${10}^{10}$ photons in a 1-mm-radius spot and 100-ps time resolution is plausible with the available electron gun and laser technology. Applications of this source for x-ray diffraction, x-ray imaging, x-ray absorption fine structure, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy in high-energy-density physics experiments are described, demonstrating significant advancements compared to the present state of the art.

Longitudinal electron-beam diagnostics play a critical role in the operation and control of x-ray free-electron lasers, which rely on parameters such as the current profile, the longitudinal phase space, or the slice emittance of the particle distribution. On the one hand, the femtosecond-scale electron bunches produced at these facilities impose stringent requirements on the resolution achievable with the diagnostics. On the other, research and development of novel accelerator technologies such as beam-driven plasma-wakefield accelerators (PWFA) demand unprecedented capabilities to resolve the centroid offsets in the full transverse plane along the longitudinal bunch coordinate. We present the beam-based commissioning of an advanced $X$-band transverse-deflection rf structure (TDS) system with the new feature of providing variable polarization of the deflecting force: the PolariX-TDS. By means of a comprehensive campaign of measurements conducted with the prototype, key parameters of the rf performance of the system are validated and a phase-space characterization of an electron bunch is accomplished with a time resolution of 3.3 fs. Furthermore, an analysis of second-order effects induced on the bunch from its passage through the PolariX-TDS is presented.

In this work, we propose to use a pinhole camera at high photon energies, specifically 200–300 keV, to measure ultra-small electron beam size by means of bending magnet radiation. We show that there is a sufficient photon flux at the detector position. Our theoretical analysis includes an examination of the applicability of the van Cittert-Zernike theorem for the bending magnet radiation generated by an ultralow emittance electron beam and a detailed analysis of the imaging properties of rectangular pinhole cameras. This led us to practical, universal formulas. We identify the optimal aperture size and resolution of the camera in the given geometry. The theoretical findings are further substantiated by wavefront propagation numerical simulations of partially coherent radiation. This study serves both as a practical guide for optical engineering and an educational resource for explaining the imaging properties of pinhole cameras.

In electron cooling, the transverse cooling rate is usually smaller than the longitudinal rate, especially at high energies. By introducing dispersive cooling, it is possible to redistribute the cooling rate between longitudinal and transverse planes. Theoretically, achieving dispersive electron cooling requires an ion dispersion and a transverse gradient of longitudinal friction force. The latter depends on many factors such as the relative momentum offset, transverse displacement, e-beam density distribution, and space charge effect. Therefore, several methods can be employed to achieve dispersive electron cooling based on these factors. Based on the dc electron beam, these factors and their respective impacts on the cooling rate are discussed and analyzed. For the first time, we propose a new mechanism to achieve dispersive cooling for a uniform electron beam by placing part of the ion beam outside of the electron beam. Based on a linear friction force model, we propose a simple formula to numerically estimate the cooling rate redistribution effect of these methods. The analytical results are in good agreement with Monte Carlo calculation and numerical simulation.

Nonevaporable getter (NEG) coating is widely required in the new generation of light sources and circular $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ colliders for small vacuum pipes to improve the vacuum level, which, however, also enhances the high-frequency resistive-wall impedance and often generates a resonator-like peak in the terahertz frequency region. In this paper, we will use the parameters of the planned Hefei Advanced Light Facility storage ring to study the impact of NEG-coating resistive-wall impedance on the longitudinal microwave instability via particle tracking simulation. Using different NEG-coating parameters (resistivity and thickness) as examples, we find that the impedance with a narrow and strong peak in the terahertz frequency region can cause terahertz scale microbunching instability, which has a low instability threshold current and contributes to a large energy spread widening above the threshold. In order to obtain a convergent simulation of the beam dynamics, one must properly resolve such a peak. The coating with a lower resistivity has a less sharp peak in its impedance spectrum, and there is a regime that it is helpful to suppress the terahertz scale microbunching instability and in return contributes to a higher instability threshold current.

Plasma acceleration has emerged as a promising technology for future particle accelerators, particularly linear colliders. Significant progress has been made in recent decades toward high-efficiency and high-quality acceleration of electrons in plasmas. However, this progress does not generalize to the acceleration of positrons, as plasmas are inherently charge asymmetric. Here, we present a comprehensive review of historical and current efforts to accelerate positrons using plasma wakefields. Proposed schemes that aim to increase energy efficiency and beam quality are summarized and quantitatively compared. A dimensionless metric that scales with the luminosity-per-beam power is introduced, indicating that positron-acceleration schemes are currently below the ultimate requirement for colliders. The primary issue is electron motion; the high mobility of plasma electrons compared to plasma ions, which leads to nonuniform accelerating and focusing fields that degrade the beam quality of the positron bunch, particularly for high efficiency acceleration. Finally, we discuss possible mitigation strategies and directions for future research.

The intrinsic energy spread of electron beams needs to be measured to characterize and optimize high-brightness electron beam sources such as those driving x-ray free-electron lasers (FELs). We demonstrate the use of the optical klystron effect as a precise and high-resolution method to measure the electron beam energy spread. The optical klystron setup consists of undulator modules and magnetic chicanes placed between them. The energy spread is found by measuring the radiation power produced in the undulators as a function of the chicanes’ strengths. High resolution and simplicity are the advantages of this approach, in contrast to the standard method, which measures the longitudinal phase space of the electron beam with a transverse deflector. The demonstration was performed at Athos, the soft x-ray FEL beamline of SwissFEL, for which we measured energy spreads below 1 MeV at a central beam energy of 3.4 GeV. We have verified the consistency of the method for different parameters (radiation wavelengths, undulator polarization configurations, and electron bunch durations) and we have benchmarked it against the standard measurement approach using a transverse deflector. Our results confirm the optical klystron as a valid approach to measure the electron beam energy spread. The method can be especially useful to reconstruct low energy spread values, where the conventional approach may be resolution limited, such as in ultra high-brightness radiofrequency photoinjectors or plasma sources, or when transverse deflectors are not available.

The Variable Energy Gamma facility of the Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics center will deliver a gamma beam generated by the Compton scattering of laser and electron beams. It will have the highest spectral density and the lowest bandwidth available worldwide. A suite of several experimental setups is being developed for a wide range of research programs in fundamental and applied nuclear science driven by gamma beams. The proposed design concept for this facility is outlined. A study of the gamma beam properties at its source, as well as those after collimation, is presented. The impact of the variation in the parameters of the electron and laser beams on the quality of the gamma beam is analyzed and discussed.

In this work, we develop a machine learning (ML) model with aleatoric uncertainty for the low energy beam transport (LEBT) region of the LANSCE linear accelerator in which we model the transport of a space-charge-dominated 750 keV proton beam through a lattice of 22 quadrupole magnets. Our ML model is developed based on data generated by a Kapchinsky–Vladimirsky (KV) envelope model of beam transport. We show that a recurrent neural network can be used as a dynamical surrogate model for fast prediction of the LEBT beam envelope. Furthermore, we endow the model with the prediction of aleatoric uncertainty and compare three different approaches. We demonstrate that the ML-based uncertainty quantification models are well calibrated and produce good estimates of the regions where the model is less certain about its predictions. This ML framework is a necessary step in the development of a real-time virtual diagnostic tool with uncertainty quantification that can be integrated into more complex downstream tasks (e.g., adaptive control or learning flexible control policies via reinforcement learning) for improved efficiency in beam operations. In future work, we plan to expand on this preliminary study by considering more realistic envelope models that include longitudinal momentum spread and dispersive effects in bending magnets, as well as particle tracking codes with 3D space charge (such as hpsim and gpt).

The radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) linac is often used as the first radio-frequency (rf) structure for both bunching and preaccelerating proton or heavy ion beams directly behind an ion source or a low-energy beam transport section. Typically, RFQ linacs operate at frequencies below 450 MHz and beam velocity ranges from $\beta =0.01–0.08$. Taking the MYRRHA project as an example, a 704.4 MHz continuous-wave (cw) RFQ linac has been recently proposed to realize an efficient fourfold frequency jump at $\beta \approx 0.2$. Due to its high frequency, small dimensions, and cw operation mode, careful design studies for the RFQ cavity structure including the water-cooling channels have been further performed, integrating the idea of using additive manufacturing technology for future construction. Systematic rf and thermal simulations and analysis demonstrated the reliability of the 704.4 MHz RFQ linac at cw operation and the frequency tuning ability via water-speed adjustments. This investigation shows that it could be a highly promising solution to perform an efficient frequency jump with a high-frequency RFQ accelerator at $\beta \approx 0.2$ for large-scale hadron linacs, which could potentially shorten the low- and medium-$\beta$ parts of the whole facility.

A high-intensity muon source driven by a continuous-wave superconducting linac holds the potential to significantly advance the intensity frontier of muon sources. Alongside advancements in accelerator technologies, breakthroughs in muon production target and collection schemes are essential. After a brief introduction to the development of the accelerator-driven system superconducting linac, a novel muon production target is proposed, utilizing a free-surface liquid lithium jet capable of handling the heat power generated by a proton beam with an energy of 600 MeV and a current of 5 mA. It is predicted by our simulation studies that the lithium target is more efficient in surface muon production compared to the rotating graphite target. The parameter space of the front end consisting of a lithium target and a large-aperture capture solenoid is explored, from the perspective of production efficiency, capture efficiency, and characteristics of the surface muon beam.

This paper provides an overview of the worldwide first commissioning of a gantry beamline with a rotator at the MedAustron synchrotron-based proton/ion cancer therapy facility in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The gantry beamline consists of the high energy beam transfer (HEBT) line and the gantry beam transport system. It transports the beam from the synchrotron to the gantry-room isocenter. The HEBT transports the beam from the synchrotron to the gantry entrance, which is the coupling point between the HEBT and the gantry. The rotator is one of the HEBT modules, thus it is an integral part of the gantry beamline. The MedAustron rotator is the worldwide first rotator system used to match slowly extracted asymmetric beams from the synchrotron to the rotating gantry. In this paper, main attention is paid to ion-optical and beam-alignment aspects of the beamline commissioning. A novel orbit-correction and beam-alignment technique has been developed specifically for the beamline with the rotator. While the theoretical concept of the rotator has existed for almost two decades, the MedAustron rotator is the first hardware implementation of this concept all over the world. The presented overview of the beamline commissioning includes a description of the principal technical solutions and main results of the first beam-transport measurements. Since the measured beam size and beam position agree well with theoretical predictions, one can conclude that the proof-of-concept of the rotator-matching has been successfully accomplished.

Taking advantage of a higher field than a conventional permanent magnet undulator, superconducting undulators (SCUs) have been rapidly developed in recent years for applications at synchrotron radiation sources and free-electron lasers. The Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a 1.5-m long planar SCU with a short period of 15 mm. This SCU has been commissioned and optimized in the horizontal position. In contrast to the vertical position, where the undulator coils are immersed in liquid helium for superconductivity, the horizontal test requires the assembly of the complete device, including the cryostat, current conductor, cryocooler, vacuum chamber, and undulator coils. This test reflects the operation status and measures the SCU’s characteristics under working conditions. Although experiences from the vertical test provided good guidance for horizontal optimization, special care needs to be taken for effects such as gravity. After improving field uniformity through iterative measurements, the rms phase error of the SCU is reduced to 7.3° at a current of 400 A. Additionally, the functions of the end correction coils to mitigate field integral errors have been verified. This paper also demonstrates and analyzes other phenomena and interesting observations during the commissioning process. It discusses important issues that impact field quality and measurement accuracy and suggests further improvement measures for an even better field.

Cesium telluride photocathodes are known to offer high quantum efficiencies under UV illumination combined with good lifetimes compared to other semiconductor photocathodes, making them very popular electron sources for particle accelerator applications. The development of photocathode preparation, characterization, and related expertise at a single accelerator laboratory can be challenging, expensive, and time consuming. Recognizing this, we explored the use of a custom-designed ultrahigh vacuum suitcase for transportation of CERN-made (Switzerland) cesium telluride photocathodes to Daresbury Laboratory (UK) for characterization. We report the synthesis and characterization of a batch of four cesium telluride photocathodes corresponding to our second attempt of transport, following design and process improvements through lessons learned from our first attempt. The photocathode characterization involved, where possible, measurements of the surface elemental composition using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), surface roughness with an in-vacuum scanning tunneling microscope (STM), and quantum efficiency (QE) measurements. Transverse energy distribution curves were obtained over a wide range of illumination wavelengths using the transverse energy spread spectrometer (TESS) at room- and cryogenic temperatures, and the values for mean transverse energy (MTE) were extracted. The photocathodes exhibited distinct thicknesses ranging from $\sim 50$ to $\sim 120\mathrm{nm}$ and significant MTE beyond the photoemission threshold which is attributed to the presence of ${\mathrm{Cs}}_x\mathrm{O}$ and Cs phases, as confirmed by XPS analysis. The photocathode that exhibited no carbon or oxygen contamination was measured to have the highest QE of 2.9% at a wavelength of 265 nm at the end of the performance characterization process. The results presented herein offer an insight into the achievements possible through international collaborations by successfully utilizing long-distance transportation of photocathodes by land under ultrahigh vacuum conditions.

The High Intensity Proton Accelerator facility (HIPA) delivers a 590 MeV cw (50.6 MHz) proton beam with up to 1.4 MW beam power (2.4 mA) to spallation and meson production targets serving particle physics experiments and material research. The main accelerator is the ring cyclotron, an isochronous proton machine accelerating an injected 72 MeV beam to a final 590 MeV. A few meters downstream of the ring cyclotron, an electrostatic beam splitter was installed in the 1980s and originally designed to peel off from a $200\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{A}$ beam up to $20\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{A}$ (12 kW beam power). Future initiatives will also make use of the splitter. Specifically, as part of the Isotope and Muon Production using Advanced Cyclotron and Target technologies (IMPACT) upgrade project, Targeted Alpha Tumour Therapy and Other Oncological Solutions (TATTOOS), an online isotope separation facility will allow to produce promising radionuclides for diagnosis and therapy of cancer in quantities sufficient for clinical studies. The TATTOOS facility includes a dedicated beamline intended to operate at a beam intensity of $100\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{A}$ (60 kW beam power), requiring continuous splitting of the high-power main beam via the splitter. As a step forward toward reaching the desired beam intensity, a beam study was carried out to test the viability of the existing splitter for TATTOOS. The results of this study show that a record of $90\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{A}$ (53 kW beam power) was peeled off a horizontally and vertically enlarged beam by the splitter. The successful beam strategy employed during the study as well as the results of several key measurements are presented in this paper, with particular emphasis on diagnostic measurements. Additionally, to support the measurements, a computational model of the splitter has been implemented using Monte Carlo simulation tools, including realistic geometry, electrostatic fields, beam optics, and power deposition calculations. Overall, the results of this paper show that through the combination of beam measurements and simulations, the existing splitter can be used to reach the $100\text{−}\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{A}$ beam intensity requirement for TATTOOS.

Vertical fixed-field accelerators (vFFAs) feature a magnetic field that increases exponentially in the vertical direction, resulting in vertically stacked nonplanar orbits. Their magnetic field is highly nonlinear, and their solenoid and quadrupolar components induce strongly coupled optics. The detailed study of their beam dynamics must account for the transverse motion linear and nonlinear coupling. Specifically, the study of linear beam dynamics requires adequate coupling parametrizations, and the study of nonlinear beam dynamics, including the characterization of the dynamic aperture (DA), must be performed in the full 4D phase space. The zgoubi ray-tracing code is ideally suited to study the vFFA transverse dynamics, as it can perform step-by-step particle tracking in vFFA complex geometry and magnetic fields. This paper provides an in-depth study of the vFFA prototype ring designed under the ISIS-II proton driver prototype project to accelerate proton beams from 3 to 12  MeV. The magnets of this vFFA ring exhibit slow magnetic field falloffs, resulting in a significant influence of the neighboring cells on the optical lattice parameters. The determination of stable orbits and tunes requires superimposing 3D magnetic field maps in zgoubi to account for the neighboring cell residual fields. The study of nonlinear beam dynamics revealed the appearance of fourth-order stability islands. A complete characterization of the DA in the 4D phase space was conducted to give a measure of the stability domain and characterize the performance and limitations of this lattice. This study paves the way for further validation studies with experimental data and field maps.

The Accelerator Research Experiment at Sinbad (ARES) linac at DESY aims to generate and characterize ultrashort electron bunches (fs to sub-fs duration) with high momentum and arrival time stability for the purpose of applications related to accelerator research and development, e.g., development of advanced and compact diagnostics and accelerating structures, test of new accelerator components, medical applications studies, machine learning, etc. During its commissioning phase, the bunch duration characterization of the electron bunches generated at ARES has been performed with an rf-phasing technique relying on momentum spectra measurements, using only common accelerator elements (rf accelerating structures and magnetic spectrometers). The sensitivity of the method allowed highlighting different response times for Mo and ${\mathrm{Cs}}_2\mathrm{Te}$ cathodes. The measured electron bunch duration in a wide range of machine parameters shows excellent agreement overall with the simulation predictions, thus demonstrating a very good understanding of the ARES operation on the bunch duration aspect. The importance of a precise in situ experimental determination of the phase velocity of the first traveling wave accelerating structure after the electron source, for which we propose a simple new beam-based method precise down to a variation of one part per ten thousand respective to the speed of light in vacuum, is emphasized for this purpose. A minimum bunch duration of 20 fs rms, resolution-limited by the space charge forces, is reported. This is, to the best of our knowledge, around 4 times shorter than what has been previously experimentally demonstrated based on rf-phasing techniques with a single rf structure. The present study constitutes a strong basis for future time characterization down to the sub-fs level at ARES, using dedicated X-band transverse deflecting structures.

In this work, the process of scattering of high-energy positively charged particles in the field of atomic planes of an ultrashort silicon crystal was studied. In the parabolic potential approximation of atomic planes, analytical expressions are found for the dependence of the coordinates and velocities of particles in a crystal on time and initial conditions. The relationship between the particle incidence angle on the crystal and its deflection angle has also been determined. It is shown that, under certain conditions, a beam can be split by an ultrashort crystal into two beams diverging at an angle equal to twice the angle of planar channeling.