We are exploring the physics and frequency-scaling of vacuum rf breakdowns at sub-THz frequencies. We present the experimental results of rf tests performed in metallic mm-wave accelerating structures. These experiments were carried out at the facility for advanced accelerator experimental tests (FACET) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The rf fields were excited by the FACET ultrarelativistic electron beam. We compared the performances of metal structures made with copper and stainless steel. The rf frequency of the fundamental accelerating mode, propagating in the structures at the speed of light, varies from 115 to 140 GHz. The traveling wave structures are 0.1 m long and composed of 125 coupled cavities each. We determined the peak electric field and pulse length where the structures were not damaged by rf breakdowns. We calculated the electric and magnetic field correlated with the rf breakdowns using the FACET bunch parameters. The wakefields were calculated by a frequency domain method using periodic eigensolutions. Such a method takes into account wall losses and is applicable to a large variety of geometries. The maximum achieved accelerating gradient is 0.3 GV=m with a peak surface electric field of 1.5 GV=m and a pulse length of about 2.4 ns.
Static magnetic undulators used by x-ray light sources are fundamentally too limited to achieve shorter undulator periods and dynamic control. To overcome these limitations, we report experimental demonstration of a novel short-period microwave undulator, essentially a Thomson scattering device, that has yielded tunable spontaneous emission and seeded coherent radiation. Its equivalent undulator period (λ u) is 13.9 mm while it has achieved an equivalent magnetic field of 0.65 T. For future-generation light sources, this device promises a shorter undulator period, a large aperture, and fast dynamic control.
During the past five years, there has been an concerted program at SLAC and KEK to develop accelerator structures that meet the high gradient (65 MV/m) performance requirements for the Next Linear Collider (NLC) and Global Linear Collider (GLC) initiatives. The design that resulted is a 60-cm-long, traveling-wave structure with low group velocity and 150 degree per cell phase advance. It has an average iris size that produces an acceptable short-range wakefield, and dipole mode damping and detuning that adequately suppresses the long-range wakefield. More than eight such structures have operated at a 60 Hz repetition rate over 1000 hours at 65 MV/m with 400 ns long pulses, and have reached breakdown rate levels below the limit for the linear collider. Moreover, the structures are robust in that the rates continue to decrease over time, and if the structures are briefly exposed to air, the rates recover to their low levels within a few days. This paper presents a summary of the results from this program, which effectively ended last August with the selection of 'cold' technology for an International Linear Collider (ILC).
We present an experimental study of a high gradient metallic accelerating structure at sub-THz frequencies, where we investigated the physics of rf breakdowns. Wakefields in the structure were excited by an ultrarelativistic electron beam. We present the first quantitative measurements of gradients and metal vacuum rf breakdowns in sub-THz accelerating cavities. When the beam travels off axis, a deflecting field is induced in addition to the longitudinal field. We measured the deflecting forces by observing the displacement and changes in the shape of the electron bunch. This behavior can be exploited for subfemtosecond beam diagnostics.
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