Search Results (11 total)

We have demonstrated for the first time the production of highly polarized short-pulse positrons with a finite energy spread in accordance with a new scheme that consists of two-quantum processes, such as inverse Compton scattering and electron-positron pair creation. Using a circularly polarized laser beam of 532 nm scattered off a high-quality, 1.28 GeV electron beam, we have obtained polarized positrons with an intensity of 2×10⁴ e⁺/bunch. The magnitude of positron polarization has been determined to be 73±15(stat)±19(syst)% by means of a newly designed positron polarimeter.

For high luminosity in electron-positron linear colliders, it is essential to generate low vertical emittance beams. We report on the smallest vertical emittance achieved in single-bunch-mode operation of the Accelerator Test Facility, which satisfies the requirement of the x-band linear collider. The emittances were measured with a laser-wire beam-profile monitor installed in the damping ring. The bunch length and the momentum spread of the beam were also recorded under the same conditions. The smallest vertical rms emittance measured at low intensity is 4 pm at a beam energy of 1.3 GeV, which corresponds to the normalized emittance of 1.0×1.0^-8   m. It increases by a factor of 1.5 for a bunch intensity of 10¹⁰ electrons. The measured data agreed to the calculation of intrabeam scattering within much better than a factor of 2.

We have developed a polarimetry of ultrashort pulse γ rays based on the fact that γ rays penetrating in the forward direction through a magnetized iron carry information on the helicity of the original γ rays. Polarized, short-pulse γ rays of (1.1±0.2)×10⁶/bunch with a time duration of 31 ps and a maximum energy of 55.9 MeV were produced via Compton scattering of a circularly polarized laser beam of 532 nm off an electron beam of 1.28 GeV. The first demonstration of asymmetry measurements of short-pulse γ rays was conducted using longitudinally magnetized iron of 15 cm length. It is found that the γ-ray intensity is in good agreement with the simulated value of 1.0×10⁶. Varying the degree of laser polarization, the asymmetry for 100% laser polarization was derived to be (1.29±0.12)%, which is also consistent with the expected value of 1.3%.

We present the measurement results of electron beam emittance in the Accelerator Test Facility damping ring operated in multibunch modes. The measurements were carried out with an upgraded laser wire beam profile monitor. The monitor has now a vertical wire as well as a horizontal one and is able to make much faster measurements thanks to an increased effective laser power inside the cavity. The measured emittance shows no large bunch-to-bunch dependence in either the horizontal or vertical directions. The values of the vertical emittance are similar to those obtained in the single-bunch operation. The present results are an important step toward the realization of a high-energy linear collider.

Based on the requirements from a conceptual design of a polarized positron beam for future linear colliders, we constructed a special collision system with a short focal length of 150 mm of the laser beams so as to produce γ rays through inverse Compton scattering. In order to achieve efficient laser-electron collisions, we created a special optics to produce very small e^--beam sizes of σ_ex0=7.6   μm and σ_ey0=5.4   μm in the horizontal and vertical directions at the collision point. Using laser light with a wavelength of 532 nm and an e^- beam of 1.28 GeV, provided from the ATF-damping ring at KEK, we generated 2×10⁵ γ rays with a time duration of 26 ps in rms, leading to a peak brightness of 1.7×10¹⁸/(mrad² mm² 0.1%bandwidth s) near to the maximum energy of 56 MeV.

We describe in this paper a measurement of vertical emittance in the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) damping ring at KEK with a laser wire beam profile monitor. This monitor is based on the Compton scattering process of electrons with a laser light target which is produced by injecting a cw laser beam into a Fabry-Perot optical cavity. We installed the monitor at a straight section of the damping ring and measured the vertical emittance with three different ring conditions. In all cases, the ATF ring was operated at 1.28 GeV in a single bunch mode. When the ring was tuned for ultralow emittance, the vertical emittance of ε_y=(1.18±0.08)×10^-11   mrad was achieved. This shows that the ATF damping ring has realized its target value also vertically.

We derive a simple relation for estimating the relative emittance growth in x and y due to intrabeam scattering (IBS) in electron storage rings. We show that IBS calculations for the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) damping ring, when using the formalism of Bjorken-Mtingwa, a modified formalism of Piwinski (where η²/β has been replaced by H), or a simple high-energy approximate formula all give results that agree well. Comparing theory, including the effect of potential well bunch lengthening, with a complete set of ATF steady-state beam size versus current measurements we find reasonably good agreement for energy spread and horizontal emittance. The measured vertical emittance, however, is larger than theory in both offset (zero current emittance) and slope (emittance change with current). Almost all the offset error can be accounted for by considering the expected projected vertical emittance due to machine errors rather than the real emittance. This result is consistent with the assumed Coulomb log factor being close to the correct one. The slope error indicates measurement error and/or additional current-dependent physics at the ATF.

Electron beams with the lowest, normalized transverse emittance recorded so far were produced and confirmed in single-bunch-mode operation of the Accelerator Test Facility at KEK. We established a tuning method of the damping ring which achieves a small vertical dispersion and small x-y orbit coupling. The vertical emittance was less than 1% of the horizontal emittance. At the zero-intensity limit, the vertical normalized emittance was less than 2.8×10^-8 rad m at beam energy 1.3 GeV. At high intensity, strong effects of intrabeam scattering were observed, which had been expected in view of the extremely high particle density due to the small transverse emittance.

We describe the first measurement of an electron beam size in the accelerator test facility damping ring at KEK with a laser wire beam profile monitor. This monitor is based upon the Compton scattering process of electrons with a laser light target, which is produced by injecting a cw laser beam into a Fabry-Pérot optical cavity. We have observed clear signals of the Compton scattered photons and confirmed that the observed energy spectrum as well as the count rate agree with the expected ones. From the measurement, we have deduced the vertical beam size σ_b to be 9.8±1.1±0.4 μm, where the first (second) error represents statistical (systematic) uncertainty. Various improvements are in progress to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio, which is essential for the detailed study of the beam dynamics.

7.6×10⁶ x-ray photons per 3.5 ps pulse are detected within a 1.8–2.3 Å spectral window during a proof-of-principle laser synchrotron source experiment. A 600 MW CO₂ laser interacted in a head-on collision with a 60 MeV, 140 A, 3.5 ps electron beam. Both beams were focused to a σ  =  32 μm spot. Our next plan is to demonstrate 10¹⁰ x-ray photons per pulse using a CO₂ laser of ∼1 TW peak power.

The KEK Accelerator Test Facility (KEK-ATF) was constructed to develop technologies for producing a low-emittance beam which will be required by future linear colliders. The KEK-ATF consists of an injector linac, a damping ring, and a beam extraction line. The basic optical structure of the damping ring is a FOBO lattice, which reduces the horizontal dispersion at the center of the bending magnets and, as a consequence, can produce an extremely small emittance beam. To verify the performance of such a unique, low-emittance lattice, it is crucial to measure the horizontal emittance. The horizontal emittance was measured using wire scanners in the beam extraction line. Since the horizontal beam position was not stable, we established a method to correct the measured beam size for position fluctuation (“jitter”) and we succeeded in the observation of the so far smallest horizontal emittance in any accelerator. The measured horizontal emittance was 1.37±0.03nm at a beam energy of 1.285 GeV and a bunch population of \(3–5\)×10⁹, in agreement with the design value of 1.27–1.34 nm at the beam energy and the bunch population.