Search Results (11 total)

We have developed a two-macroparticle bunch to explore the longitudinal beam dynamics through various components of the Fermilab/NICADD photoinjector. Such a two-macroparticle bunch is generated by splitting the ultraviolet pulse from the photocathode drive laser. The presented method allows the exploration of radio-frequency-induced compression in the 1.625 cell radio frequency gun and the booster cavity. It also allows a direct measurement of the momentum compaction of the magnetic bunch compressor. The measurements are compared with analytical and numerical models.

The Fermilab photoinjector produces electron bunches of 1–12 nC charge with an energy of 16–18 MeV. Detailed measurements and optimization of the transverse emittance have been carried out for a number of beam line optics conditions, and at a number of beam line locations. The length of the bunches has also been measured, first for an uncompressed beam (as a function of the charge) and then for a compressed beam of 8 nC charge (as a function of the 9-cell cavity phase). These measurements are presented and compared with the simulation codes HOMDYN and ASTRA.

Various projects under study require an angular-momentum-dominated electron beam generated by a photoinjector. Some of the proposals directly use the angular-momentum-dominated beams (e.g., electron cooling of heavy ions), while others require the beam to be transformed into a flat beam (e.g., possible electron injectors for light sources and linear colliders). In this paper we report our experimental study of an angular-momentum-dominated beam produced in a photoinjector, addressing the dependencies of angular momentum on initial conditions. We also briefly discuss the removal of angular momentum. The results of the experiment, carried out at the Fermilab/NICADD Photoinjector Laboratory, are found to be in good agreement with theoretical and numerical models.

The energy loss and gain of a beam in the nonlinear, “blowout” regime of the plasma wakefield accelerator, which features ultrahigh accelerating fields, linear transverse focusing forces, and nonlinear plasma motion, has been asserted, through previous observations in simulations, to scale linearly with beam charge. Additionally, from a recent analysis by Barov et al., it has been concluded that for an infinitesimally short beam, the energy loss is indeed predicted to scale linearly with beam charge for arbitrarily large beam charge. This scaling is predicted to hold despite the onset of a relativistic, nonlinear response by the plasma, when the number of beam particles occupying a cubic plasma skin depth exceeds that of plasma electrons within the same volume. This paper is intended to explore the deviations from linear energy loss using 2D particle-in-cell simulations that arise in the case of experimentally relevant finite length beams. The peak accelerating field in the plasma wave excited behind the finite-length beam is also examined, with the artifact of wave spiking adding to the apparent persistence of linear scaling of the peak field amplitude into the nonlinear regime. At large enough normalized charge, the linear scaling of both decelerating and accelerating fields collapses, with serious consequences for plasma wave excitation efficiency. Using the results of parametric particle-in-cell studies, the implications of these results for observing severe deviations from linear scaling in present and planned experiments are discussed.

There has been much recent experimental and theoretical interest in the blowout regime of plasma wakefield acceleration, which features ultrahigh accelerating fields, linear transverse focusing forces, and nonlinear plasma motion. A quantitative understanding of the blowout regime including all these effects has, to this point, been available only through detailed simulations. This paper represents an initial step towards an analytical theory of this regime, in which the mechanism of energy loss in the drive beam is investigated. We find, first from examination of electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations, and then through analytical investigations, that under short pulse, high-charge conditions, the plasma electrons receive a strong initial push along the direction of beam motion. This nonlinear effect is unanticipated by linear theory, where the return current motion is in the opposite direction. In the limit of short pulses (the δ-function limit), the beam energy loss is shown to be linear in charge even with a nonlinear plasma response dominated by relativistic, electromagnetic effects, despite the fact that the initial plasma electron response changes qualitatively from the familiar electrostatic, nonrelativistic limit.

Recently, Suk, Barov, and Rosenzweig [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1011 (2001)] proposed a scheme for trapping background electrons in a plasma wake field using a sudden downward transition in the background ion density, where the density transition length is small compared to the plasma skin depth. In the present paper we present a fluid dynamical description of this mechanism that is self-consistent up to the point of wave breaking. A one-dimensional nonlinear relativistic second-order differential equation is derived for the electron fluid velocity in Lagrangian coordinates. Numerical integrations of this equation are used to map out the regions of parameter space in which wave breaking occurs and to determine the extent of the downstream region of plasma involved in wave breaking. Comparisons with one-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations show that the onset of trapping occurs at the parameter values where wave breaking begins in the fluid analysis, but that the downstream extent of plasma involved in wave breaking is not a reliable predictor of the number of trapped particles. The PIC simulations also reveal that particles initially located on the upstream side of the density transition may become trapped, although these particles do not participate in wave breaking in the fluid description.

A new scheme for plasma electron injection into an acceleration phase of a plasma wake field is presented. In this scheme, a single, short electron pulse travels through an underdense plasma with a sharp, localized, downward density transition. Near this transition, a number of background plasma electrons are trapped in the plasma wake field, due to the rapid wavelength increase of the induced wake wave in this region. The viability of this scheme is verified using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. To investigate the trapping and acceleration mechanisms further, a 1D Hamiltonian analysis, as well as 1D simulations, has been performed, with the results presented and compared.

Initial experiments which have explored the physics of the underdense (blowout) regime of the plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA) at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator facility are reported. In this regime, the relativistic electron beam is denser than the plasma, causing the beam channel to completely rarefy, and leaving a high quality accelerating region which also contains a uniform ion column. This ion column in turn allows the drive and accelerating beams to be well guided over many initial beam beta-function lengths. The results of these experiments, which have taken place over several years, are reviewed. Notable achievements in the course of these studies include the creation and measurement of drive and witness beam generated in an rf photoinjector, as well as previously published studies on drive beam guiding in the underdense regime. In addition, these experiments allowed measurement of both beam energy loss and gain, at a maximum average rate of 25 MeV/m in this regime of the PWFA, which is consistent with a peak acceleration gradient of 62 MeV/m in the excited waves. Difficulties associated with this type of experiment are discussed, as are prospects for mitigating these difficulties and achieving high gradient acceleration in planned future experiments.

We report experimental results on the high peak current electron beam generated at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator facility for wakefield applications. The facility produces bunch charges in the range 15–100 nC by using a photocathode based RF electron gun. The energy of the beam is 14 MeV. Our measurements show that for bunches of 100 nC, the pulse length can be as short as 30 ps. A detailed systematic study of pulse length versus charge is reported, as well as comparisons with numerical simulations. Dark current beam loading in the high field RF gun is also discussed.

We report the near-steady-state propagation over long distance of a 25 psec, tightly focused relativistic electron beam which creates, by radial ejection of plasma electrons, a focusing ion channel in a plasma of electron density smaller than the beam. A dense beam core, close in radius to the injected beam, which was nearly matched to the ion focusing strength, is observed at the plasma exit. Time-resolved imaging confirms that this core is situated in the trailing half of the beam, as predicted by analytical and computer models. We discuss the impact of these results on plasma wake field acceleration schemes.

Dense relativistic electron beams traversing a plasma, in what is known as the underdense, or ion focusing, regime experience a strong, linear transverse restoring force. This force arises from the nearly immobile ions which form a channel of uncompensated positive charge when the plasma electrons are ejected in response to the introduction of the beam charge. This phenomenon can be used for focusing the electron beam to very high densities over long propagation distances. Several schemes have been proposed, including the nonlinear plasma wake-field accelerator, the adiabatic plasma lens, and the ion-channel laser, whose viability is based on this focusing effect for very short pulse, high current electron beams propagating in plasma. In this paper we examine, analytically and numerically, the self-consistent requirements on plasma density, beam current, length, and transverse emittance which must be satisfied in order for ion-channel formation and near equilibrium beam propagation to exist over the majority of the length of the electron beam. The dynamics of the beam-plasma system are modeled by a simultaneous solution of the plasma electron cold-fluid equations, and the Maxwell-Vlasov equation governing the beam’s thermal equilibrium. The effects of introducing a strong axial magnetic field on the plasma response and beam equilibria are examined. In addition to developing criteria for self-consistent equilibrium focusing, a time-dependent analysis where the beam particles are treated as mobile particles in cells is developed in order to study the dynamical approach of this equilibrium. Inherently time-dependent phenomena, such as matching of the beam into the plasma and adiabatic lenses, are then examined with this method.