Experimental demonstration and visual observation of dust trapping in an electron storage ring

Sudden decreases in the beam lifetime, which are attributed to the dust trappings, sometimes occur at the electron storage ring Photon Factory Advanced Ring (PF-AR). Since these dust events cause difficulties in user operations, we have been carefully observing this phenomenon for many years. Our observations indicated that the dust trappings could be caused by electric discharges in vacuum ducts. In order to demonstrate this hypothesis experimentally, we designed a new vacuum device that intentionally generates electric discharges and installed it in PF-AR. Using this device, we could repeatedly induce sudden decreases in the beam lifetime because of the generated electric discharge. We also detected decreases in the beam lifetime caused by mechanical movement of the electrodes in the device. Moreover, we could visually observe the dust trapping phenomenon; the trapped dust particle was observed by two video cameras and appeared as a luminous body that resembled a shooting star. This was the first direct observation of a luminous dust particle trapped by the electron beam.