New halo formation mechanism at the KEK compact energy recovery linac

Abstract

The beam halo mitigation is a very important challenge for reliable and safe operation of a high-energy machine. A systematic beam halo study was conducted at the KEK compact energy recovery linac (cERL) since non-negligible beam loss was observed in the recirculation loop during a common operation. We found that the beam loss can be avoided by making use of the collimation system. Beam halo measurements have demonstrated the presence of vertical beam halos at multiple locations in the beam line (except the region near the electron gun). Based on these observations, we made a conjecture that the transverse beam halo is attributed to the longitudinal bunch tail arising at the photocathode. The transfer of particles from the longitudinal space to a transverse halo may have been observed and studied in other machines, considering nonlinear effects as their causes. However, our study demonstrates a new unique halo formation mechanism, in which a transverse beam halo can be generated by a longitudinal bunch tail due to transverse rf kicks from the accelerating (monopole) fields of the radio-frequency cavities. This halo formation occurs when nonrelativistic particles enter the cavities with a transverse offset, even if neither nonlinear optics nor nonlinear beam effects are present. A careful realignment of the injector system will mitigate the present halo. Another possible cure is to reduce the bunch tails by changing the photocathode material from the present GaAs to a multi-alkali that is known to have a shorter longitudinal tail.