We propose a simple approach to the on-line control of the nonlinear dynamics in storage rings, based on compensation of the nonlinear resonance driving terms using beam losses as the main indicator of the strength of a resonance. The correction scheme is built on the analysis of the resonance driving terms in first perturbative order and on the possibility of using independent power supplies in the sextupole magnets, which is nowadays present in many synchrotron light sources. Such freedom allows the definition of “smart sextupole knobs” attacking each resonance separately. The compensation scheme has been tested at the Diamond light source and proved to be effective in opening up the betatron tune space, resonance free, available to the electron beam and to improve the beam lifetime.

In the years 2009–2013 the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been operated with the top beam energies of 3.5 and 4 TeV per proton (from 2012) instead of the nominal 7 TeV. The currents in the superconducting magnets were reduced accordingly. To date only seventeen beam-induced quenches have occurred; eight of them during specially designed quench tests, the others during injection. There has not been a single beam-induced quench during normal collider operation with stored beam. The conditions, however, are expected to become much more challenging after the long LHC shutdown. The magnets will be operating at near nominal currents, and in the presence of high energy and high intensity beams with a stored energy of up to 362 MJ per beam. In this paper we summarize our efforts to understand the quench levels of LHC superconducting magnets. We describe beam-loss events and dedicated experiments with beam, as well as the simulation methods used to reproduce the observable signals. The simulated energy deposition in the coils is compared to the quench levels predicted by electrothermal models, thus allowing one to validate and improve the models which are used to set beam-dump thresholds on beam-loss monitors for run 2.

The laser driven acceleration of ions is considered a promising candidate for an ion source for hadron therapy of oncological diseases. Though proton and carbon ion sources are conventionally used for therapy, other light ions can also be utilized. Whereas carbon ions require 400 MeV per nucleon to reach the same penetration depth as 250 MeV protons, helium ions require only 250 MeV per nucleon, which is the lowest energy per nucleon among the light ions (heavier than protons). This fact along with the larger biological damage to cancer cells achieved by helium ions, than that by protons, makes this species an interesting candidate for the laser driven ion source. Two mechanisms (magnetic vortex acceleration and hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration) of PW-class laser driven ion acceleration from liquid and gaseous helium targets are studied with the goal of producing 250 MeV per nucleon helium ion beams that meet the hadron therapy requirements. We show that ${\mathrm{He}}^3$ ions, having almost the same penetration depth as ${\mathrm{He}}^4$ with the same energy per nucleon, require less laser power to be accelerated to the required energy for the hadron therapy.

In this article a new analytical description of the effective interaction potential for a charged particle with the field of two interfering laser beams is presented. The potential dependence on the lasers intensities, orientation and parameters of the particle entering the considered system is analyzed. For the first time the phenomenon of effective potential inversion (or “relativistic reversal”) is described for arbitrary lasers crossing angle. Threshold electron velocity values for the phenomenon are introduced and its extended illustration based on numerical simulations for two laser beams polarizations is presented. In addition the projectile radiation spectral distribution is given and general estimations on the expected beam radiation yield are outlined.

The phenomenon of Dicke’s subradiance, in which the collective properties of a system suppress radiation, has received broad interest in atomic physics. Recent theoretical papers in the field of relativistic electron beams have proposed schemes to achieve subradiance through suppression of shot noise current fluctuations. The resulting “quiet” beam generates less spontaneous radiation than emitted even by a shot noise beam when oscillating in an undulator. Quiet beams could have diverse accelerator applications, including lowering power requirements for seeded free-electron lasers and improving efficiency of hadron cooling. In this paper we present experimental observation of a strong reduction in undulator radiation, demonstrating the feasibility of noise suppression as a practical tool in accelerator physics.

The detailed study of the low energy secondary electron yield (LE-SEY) of technical Cu for low electron energies (from 0 to 20 eV) is very important for electron cloud build up in high intensity accelerators and in many other fields of research. Different devices base their functionalities on the number of electrons produced by a surface when hit by other electrons, namely its SEY, and, in most cases, on its very low energy behavior. However, LE-SEY has been rarely addressed due to the intrinsic experimental complexity to control very low energy electrons. Furthermore, several results published in the past have been recently questioned, allegedly suffering from experimental systematics. Here, we critically review the experimental method used to study LE-SEY and precisely define the energy region in which the experimental data can be considered valid. By analyzing the significantly different behavior of LE-SEY in clean polycrystalline Cu (going toward zero at zero impinging energies) and in its as received technical counterpart (maintaining a significant value in the entire region), we solve most, if not all, of the apparent controversy present in the literature, producing important inputs for better understanding the device performances related to their LE-SEY. Simulations are then performed to address the impact of such results on electron cloud predictions in the LHC.

This paper compares measurements and calculations of scattering of photons from technical vacuum chamber surfaces typical of accelerators. Synchrotron radiation generated by a charged particle beam in the accelerator is either absorbed, specularly reflected, or scattered by the vacuum chamber surface. This phenomenon has important implications on the operation of the accelerator. Measurements of photon scattering were made at the BESSY-II synchrotron radiation facility using samples of aluminum vacuum chamber from Cornell electron storage ring (CESR). A description of the analytic model used in the calculation is given, which takes into account the reflectivity of the material, the surface features of the sample, the wavelengths and the incident angles of the photons. The surface properties used in these calculations were obtained from measurements made from an atomic force microscope.

Laser-plasma accelerators, providing high electric field gradients, are promising candidates to drive next-generation compact light sources and high-energy applications. However, conservation of beam emittance, a prerequisite for future applications, is very challenging, as the accelerated beam has to be matched to the plasma’s strong focusing forces. Here we derive with simulations ideal laser and plasma density profiles to match an electron beam in and out of a plasma stage, thus relaxing required beta functions for injection and minimizing divergence and emittance growth after the plasma.

Next generation light sources such as energy recovering linacs (ERLs) are highly sensitive to instabilities due to ionized residual gas, which must be mitigated for successful operation. Vacuum pumps are insufficient for removal of the ions, as the ions are trapped by the beam’s electrical potential. Two effective measures are (i) introducing clearing gaps in the bunch train, and (ii) installing clearing electrodes which pull out the trapped ions from the electrical potential of the beam. In this paper, we present numerical studies on the behavior of ion clouds that interact with bunch trains in an ERL taking into account the effects of the clearing gaps and clearing electrodes. We present simulations with different compositions of the residual gas. Simulations are done using the MOEVE PIC Tracking software package developed at Rostock University, which has been upgraded to include the behavior of ion clouds in the environment of additional electromagnetic fields, such as generated by clearing electrodes. The simulations use the parameters of the Berlin Energy Recovery Linac Project (bERLinPro) to allow for the deduction of appropriate measures for bERLinPro ’s design and operation.

The energy extraction efficiency is a figure of merit for a free-electron laser (FEL). It can be enhanced by the technique of undulator tapering, which enables the sustained growth of radiation power beyond the initial saturation point. In the development of a single-pass x-ray FEL, it is important to exploit the full potential of this technique and optimize the taper profile $a_w(z)$. Our approach to the optimization is based on the theoretical model by Kroll, Morton, and Rosenbluth, whereby the taper profile $a_w(z)$ is not a predetermined function (such as linear or exponential) but is determined by the physics of a resonant particle. For further enhancement of the energy extraction efficiency, we propose a modification to the model, which involves manipulations of the resonant particle’s phase. Using the numerical simulation code GENESIS, we apply our model-based optimization methods to a case of the future FEL at the MAX IV Laboratory (Lund, Sweden), as well as a case of the LCLS-II facility (Stanford, USA).

Obtaining muon beams with high density in 6D phase space is essential for realization of muon colliders, neutrino factories based on accelerated muons beams and other experiments involving muons. While several schemes to compress the beam phase space by means of muon cooling have been proposed, very little is known about the impact of particle-particle interactions in the whole design. In this paper, we examine the influence of space-charge fields on the cooling process of muon beams. We show that the cooling efficiency decreases with the degree of intensity, leading to emittance growth and particle loss for beams with large intensities. We further show that the emittance growth is only longitudinal and present a space-charge compensation solution by means of increasing the rf gradient. With the aid of numerical simulations, we obtain a quantitative relationship between the required compensation gradient and bunch charge and compare our results to earlier theoretical findings.

Originally, the typical particle accelerators as well as their associated beam transport equipment were designed for particle and nuclear physics research and applications in isotope production. In the past few decades, such accelerators and related equipment have also been applied for medical use. This can be in the original physics laboratory environment, but for the past 20 years also in hospital-based or purely clinical environments for particle therapy. The most important specific requirements of accelerators for radiation therapy with protons or ions will be discussed. The focus will be on accelerator design, operational, and formal aspects. We will discuss the special requirements to reach a high reliability for patient treatments as well as an accurate delivery of the dose at the correct position in the patient using modern techniques like pencil beam scanning. It will be shown that the technical requirements, safety aspects, and required reliability of the accelerated beam differ substantially from those in a nuclear physics laboratory. It will be shown that this difference has significant implications on the safety and interlock systems. The operation of such a medical facility should be possible by nonaccelerator specialists at different operating sites (treatment rooms). The organization and role of the control and interlock systems can be considered as being the most crucially important issue, and therefore a special, dedicated design is absolutely necessary in a facility providing particle therapy.

We present calculations of the longitudinal wakefields at cryogenic temperatures for extremely short bunches, characteristic for modern x-ray free electron lasers. The calculations are based on the equations for the surface impedance in the regime of the anomalous skin effect in metals. This paper extends and complements an earlier analysis of B. Podobedov, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 12, 044401 (2009). into the region of very high frequencies associated with bunch lengths in the micron range. We study in detail the case of a rectangular bunch distribution for parameters of interest of LCLS-II with a superconducting undulator.

In this paper, we discuss the velocity compression in a short rf linac of an electron bunch from a rf photoinjector operated in the blowout regime. Particle tracking simulations shows that with a beam charge of 2 pC an ultrashort bunch duration of 16 fs can be obtained at a tight longitudinal focus downstream of the linac. A simplified coherent transition radiation (CTR) spectrum method is developed to enable the measurement of ultrashort (sub-50 fs) bunches at low bunch energy (5 MeV) and low bunch charges ($<10\mathrm{pC}$). In this method, the ratio of the radiation energy selected by two narrow bandwidth filters is used to estimate the bunch length. The contribution to the coherent form factor of the large transverse size of the bunch suppresses the radiation signal significantly and is included in the analysis. The experiment was performed at the UCLA Pegasus photoinjector laboratory. The measurement results show bunches of sub-40 fs with 2 pC of charge well consistent with the simulation using actual experimental conditions. These results open the way to the generation of ultrashort bunches with time-duration below 10 fs once some of the limitations of the setup (rf phase jitter, amplitude instability and low field in the gun limited by breakdown) are corrected.

The microbunching instability (MBI) is a well-known problem for high brightness electron beams and has been observed at accelerator facilities around the world. Free-electron lasers (FELs) are particularly susceptible to MBI, which can distort the longitudinal phase space and increase the beam’s slice energy spread (SES). Past studies of MBI at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) relied on optical transition radiation to infer the existence of microbunching. With the development of the x-band transverse deflecting cavity (XTCAV), we can for the first time directly image the longitudinal phase space at the end of the accelerator and complete a comprehensive study of MBI, revealing both detailed MBI behavior as well as insights into mitigation schemes. The fine time resolution of the XTCAV also provides the first LCLS measurements of the final SES, a critical parameter for many advanced FEL schemes. Detailed MBI and SES measurements can aid in understanding MBI mechanisms, benchmarking simulation codes, and designing future high-brightness accelerators.

A muon collider requires a reduction of the six-dimensional emittance of the captured muon beam by several orders of magnitude. In this study, we describe a novel rectilinear cooling scheme that should meet this requirement. First, we present the conceptual design of our proposed scheme wherein we detail its basic features. Then, we establish the theoretical framework to predict and evaluate the performance of ionization cooling channels and discuss its application to our specific case. Finally, we present the first end-to-end simulation of 6D cooling for a muon collider and show a notable reduction of the 6D emittance by 5 orders of magnitude. We find good agreement between simulation and theory.

Numerical simulations of a vacuum post-hole convolute driven by magnetically insulated vacuum transmission lines (MITLs) are used to study current losses due to charged particle emission from the MITL-convolute-system electrodes. This work builds on the results of a previous study [E. A. Madrid et al. Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 16, 120401 (2013)] and adds realistic power pulses, Ohmic heating of anode surfaces, and a model for the formation and evolution of cathode plasmas. The simulations suggest that modestly larger anode-cathode gaps in the MITLs upstream of the convolute result in significantly less current loss. In addition, longer pulse durations lead to somewhat greater current loss due to cathode-plasma expansion. These results can be applied to the design of future MITL-convolute systems for high-current pulsed-power systems.

The need for precisely defined beam shapes in photoelectron sources has been well established. In this paper, we use a spatial light modulator and simple shaping algorithm to create arbitrary, detailed transverse laser shapes with high fidelity. We transmit this shaped laser to the photocathode of a high voltage dc gun. Using beam currents where space charge is negligible, and using an imaging solenoid and fluorescent viewscreen, we show that the resultant beam shape preserves these detailed features with similar fidelity. Next, instead of transmitting a shaped laser profile, we use an active feedback on the unshaped electron beam image to create equally accurate and detailed shapes. We demonstrate that this electron beam feedback has the added advantage of correcting for electron optical aberrations, yielding shapes without skew. The method may serve to provide precisely defined electron beams for low current target experiments, space-charge dominated beam commissioning, as well as for online adaptive correction of photocathode quantum efficiency degradation.

Future light sources aim at achieving a diffraction limited photon beam both in the horizontal and vertical planes. High gradient quadrupoles and strong chromaticity correction sextupoles in a corresponding ultra-low emittance ring may restrict the physical and dynamic aperture of the storage ring such that off-axis injection and accumulation may become impossible. We propose a longitudinal injection scheme, i.e., injecting an electron bunch onto the closed orbit with a time offset with respect to the circulating bunches. The temporal separation enables a pulsed dipole kicker to situate the injected bunch transversely on-axis without disturbing the circulating bunches if the pulse length is shorter than the bunch spacing. The injected bunch is finally merged to a circulating bunch through synchrotron radiation damping. We present the scheme in detail and its application to the lattice of the MAX IV 3 GeV storage ring. The requirements and feasibility of the pulsed dipole kicker are also discussed.

Recent advancements in microelectromechanical system (MEMS) fabrication techniques have enabled the batch-fabrication of quadrupole MEMS electromagnets producing 100 mT-scale field across sub-mm gaps with the potential for transformational advances in the field of compact high performance charged particle focusing and steering optics. The footprint of these in-vacuum focusing and steering optics can be as small as $3\mathrm{mm}\times 3\mathrm{mm}\times 0.5\mathrm{mm}$. The low electromagnet impedance ($58\mathrm{m}\mathrm{\Omega }$, 32 nH per pole) facilitates power-efficient operation and continuous or low duty cycle operation, and the individually controlled electromagnets allow combined dipole-quadrupole fields. Here we report on an experiment where these miniature devices have been used to focus and steer a 34 keV electron beam from a DC photogun, demonstrating the first application of magnetic MEMS to particle beam focusing.