Experimental results on electron beam combination and bunch frequency multiplication

The aim of the CLIC Test Facility CTF3 at CERN is to demonstrate the feasibility of the key points of the two-beam acceleration based compact linear collider study. In particular, it addresses the efficient generation of a drive beam with the appropriate time structure of the electron bunches in order to produce high power rf pulses at a frequency of 30 GHz. This time structure requires a high bunch repetition frequency. It is obtained by successive injections of bunch trains into an isochronous ring using transversely deflecting rf structures. The major goal of the now completed first phase of the CTF3 was to achieve the bunch train combination at low charge. In this paper, we give a description of the project and summarize the experimental results, with a focus on the successful bunch frequency multiplication for various factors up to 5.