The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE), which is under construction at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), will demonstrate the principle of ionization cooling as a technique for the reduction of the phase-space volume occupied by a muon beam. Ionization cooling channels are required for the Neutrino Factory and the Muon Collider. MICE will evaluate in detail the performance of a single lattice cell of the Feasibility Study 2 cooling channel. The MICE Muon Beam has been constructed at the ISIS synchrotron at RAL, and in MICE Step I, it has been characterized using the MICE beam-instrumentation system. In this paper, the MICE Muon Beam and beam-line instrumentation are described. The muon rate is presented as a function of the beam loss generated by the MICE target dipping into the ISIS proton beam. For a 1 V signal from the ISIS beam-loss monitors downstream of our target we obtain a 30 KHz instantaneous muon rate, with a neglible pion contamination in the beam.

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A directed R&D program is presently underway in the U.S. to evaluate the designs and technologies required to provide muon-based high energy physics (HEP) accelerator capabilities. Such capabilities have the potential to provide unique physics reach for the HEP community. An overview of the status of the designs for the neutrino factory and muon collider applications is provided. Recent progress in the technology R&D program is summarized.

We have used coherent Smith-Purcell radiation in order to investigate the longitudinal (temporal) profile of the electron bunch at the FELIX facility. Detection of the far-infrared radiation was achieved by a simple and compact experimental arrangement, consisting of an array of 11 room-temperature pyroelectric detectors. Accurate determination of the background radiation, use of high quality optical filters, and an efficient light collection system are essential for this type of experiment. The radiated power is in good agreement with the predictions of the surface current description of this process. It is concluded that 90% of the bunch particles are contained within 5.5 ps, with a temporal profile that could be approximately triangular in shape.

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