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Fundamentals of vacuum breakdown in high-gradient accelerator structures

Walter Wuensch*, Sergio Calatroni, Flyura Djurabekova, Andreas Kyritsakis, and Yinon Ashkenazy†

Walter Wuensch* and Sergio Calatroni

  • CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland

Flyura Djurabekova

  • Helsinki Institute of Physics and Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 43 (Pietari Kalmin katu 2), 00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland

Andreas Kyritsakis

Yinon Ashkenazy†

  • *Contact author: Walter.Wuensch@cern.ch
  • †Contact author: yinon.ash@mail.huji.ac.il
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Rev. Mod. Phys. 98, 025004 – Published 5 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/h8wb-y278

Abstract

This review consolidates experimental, theoretical, and simulation work examining the behavior of high-field devices and the fundamental process of vacuum arc initiation, commonly referred to as breakdown. Detailed experimental observations and results relating to a wide range of aspects of high-field devices, including conditioning, field and temperature dependence of the breakdown rate, and the ability to sustain high electric fields as a function of device geometry and materials, are presented. The different observations are then addressed theoretically and with simulation, capturing the sequence of processes that lead to vacuum breakdown and explaining the major observed experimental dependencies. The core of the work described in this review was carried out by a broad multidisciplinary collaboration in an over a decade-long program to develop high-gradient, 100  MV/m–range, accelerating structures for the Compact Linear Collider project, a possible future linear-collider high-energy physics facility. Connections are made to the broader linear-collider, high-field, and breakdown communities.

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Rev. Mod. Phys. 98, 025004– Published 5 June, 2026
  • Received 20 March 2023
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