Efficient long-pulse fully-loaded CTF3 linac operation

1998

In this paper we discuss a new approach to two-beam acceleration. The energy for RF production is initially stored in a long-pulse electron beam which is efficiently accelerated to about 1.2 GeV by a fully loaded, conventional, low frequency (~1 GHz) linac. The beam pulse length is twice the length of the high-gradient linac. Segments of this long pulse beam are compressed using combiner rings to create a sequence of higher peak power drive beams with gaps in between. This train of drive beams is distributed from the end of the linac against the main beam direction down a common transport line so that each drive beam can power a section of the main linac. After a 180-degree turn, each high-current, lowenergy drive beam is decelerated in low-impedance decelerator structures, and the resulting power is used to accelerate the low-current, high-energy beam in the main linac. The method discussed here seems relatively inexpensive, is very flexible and can be used to accelerate beams for linear colliders over the entire frequency and energy range.

Proc. EPAC, 2004

The aim of the CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) Study is to investigate the feasibility of a high luminosity, multi-TeV linear e+e-collider. CLIC is based on a two-beam method, in which a high current drive beam is decelerated to produce 30 GHz RF power needed for high-gradient acceleration of the main beam running parallel to it. To demonstrate the outstanding feasibility issues of the scheme a new CLIC Test Facility, CTF3, is being constructed at CERN by an international collaboration. In its final configuration CTF3 will consist of a 150 MeV drive beam linac followed by a 42 m long delay loop and an 84 m combiner ring. The installation will include a 30 GHz high power test stand, a representative CLIC module and a test decelerator. The first part of the linac was installed and commissioned with beam in 2003. The first issue addressed was the generation and acceleration of a high-current drive beam in the "full beam loading" condition where RF power is converted into beam power with an efficiency of more than 90 %. The full beam loading operation was successfully demonstrated with the nominal beam current of 3.5 A. A variety of beam measurements have been performed, showing good agreement with expectations.

Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams, 2011

We discuss X-band rf power production and deceleration in the two-beam test stand of the CLIC test facility at CERN. The rf power is extracted from an electron drive beam by a specially designed power extraction structure. In order to test the structures at high-power levels, part of the generated power is recirculated to an input port, thus allowing for increased deceleration and power levels within the structure. The degree of recirculation is controlled by a splitter and phase shifter. We present a model that describes the system and validate it with measurements over a wide range of parameters. Moreover, by correlating rf power measurements with the energy lost by the electron beam, as measured in a spectrometer placed after the power extraction structure, we are able to identify system parameters, including the form factor of the electron beam. The quality of the agreement between model and reality gives us confidence to extrapolate the results found in the present test facility towards the parameter regime of CLIC.

RF breakdown is a key issue for the multi-TeV highluminosity e+e-Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). Breakdowns in the high-gradient accelerator structures can deflect the beam and decrease the desired luminosity. The limitations of the accelerating structures due to breakdowns have been studied so far without a beam present in the structure. The presence of the beam modifies the distribution of the electrical and magnetic field distributions, which determine the breakdown rate. Therefore an experiment has been designed for high power testing a CLIC prototype accelerating structure with a beam present in the CLIC Test Facility (CTF3). A special beam line allows extracting a beam with nominal CLIC beam current and duration from the CTF3 linac. The paper describes the beam optics design for this experimental beam line and the commissioning of the experiment with beam.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2011

A fundamental element of the CLIC concept is two-beam acceleration, where RF power is extracted from a high current, low energy drive beam in order to accelerate the low current main beam to high energy [1]. The CLIC Power Extraction and Transfer Structure (PETS) is a passive microwave device in which bunches of the drive beam interact with the constant impedance of the periodically loaded waveguide and excite preferentially the synchronous mode. The RF power produced is collected downstream of the structure by means of the RF power extractor; it is delivered to the main linac using the waveguide network connecting the PETS to the main CLIC accelerating structures [2]. The PETS should produce 135 MW at 240 ns RF pulses at a very low breakdown rate: BDR o 10 À 7 /pulse/m. Over 2010, a thorough high RF power testing program was conducted in order to investigate the ultimate performance and the limiting factors for the PETS operation. The testing program is described and the results are presented.

1998

The second phase of the Compact LInear Collider (CLIC) Test Facility (CTF II) at CERN has demon-strated the feasibility of two-beam acceleration at 30 GHz using a high-charge drive beam, running parallel to the main beam, as the RF power source. To date accelerating gradients of 59 MV/m at 30 GHz have been achieved. In CTF II, the two beams are generated by 3 GHz RF photo-injectors and are accelerated in 3 GHz linacs, before injection into the 30 GHz modules. The drive beam linac has to accelerate a 16 ns long train of 48 bunches, each with a nominal charge of 13.4 nC. To cope with the very substantial beam-loading special accelerating structures are used (running slightly off the bunch repetition frequency). A magnetic chicane compresses the bunches to less than 5 ps fwhm, this is needed for efficient 30 GHz power generation. The 30 GHz modules are fully-engineered representative sections of CLIC, they include a 30 GHz decelerator for the drive beam, a 30 GHz accelerator for the main beam, high resolution BPM's and a wire-based active align-ment system. The performance achieved so far, as well as the operational experience with the first accelerator of this type, are reported.

Proceedings of …, 2010

The probe beam Linac, CALIFES, of the CLIC Test Facility (CTF3) has been developed by CEA Saclay, LAL Orsay and CERN to deliver trains of short bunches (0.75 ps) spaced by 0.667 ns at an energy around 170 MeV with a charge of 0.6 nC to the TBTS (Two-beam Test Stand) intended to test the high gradient CLIC 12 GHz accelerating structures. Based on 3 former LEP Injector Linac (LIL) accelerating structures and on a newly developed RF photo-injector, the whole accelerator is powered with a single 3 GHz klystron delivering pulses of 45 MW during 5.5 μs to a RF pulse compression cavity and a network of waveguides, splitters, phase-shifters and an attenuator. We relate here results collected during the various commissioning and operation periods which gave stable beam characteristics delivered to the TBTS with performances close to nominal. Progress has been made in the laser system to improve the beam charge and stability, in the space charge compensation to optimize the emittance, in RF pulse shape for energy and energy spread. The installation of a specially developed RF power phase shifter for the first accelerating structure used in velocity bunching allows the control of the bunch length.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

The energy upgrade of the SPARC_LAB photo-injector at LNF-INFN (Frascati, Italy) has been originally conceived replacing one low gradient (13 MV/m) 3 m long SLAC type S-band traveling wave (TW) section with two 1.4 m long C-band accelerating sections. Due to the higher gradients reached by such structures, a higher energy beam can be obtained within the same accelerator footprint length. The use of C-band structures for electron acceleration has been adopted in a few FEL linacs in the world, among others, the Japanese Free Electron Laser at SPring-8 and the SwissFEL at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). The C-band sections are traveling wave, constant impedance structures with symmetric input and output axial couplers. Their design has been optimized for the operation with a SLED RF pulse compressor. In this paper we briefly review their design criteria and we focus on the construction, tuning, low and high-power RF tests. We also illustrate the design and realization of the dedicated low level RF system that has been done in collaboration with PSI in the framework of the EU TIARA project. Preliminary experimental results appear to confirm the operation of such structures with accelerating gradients larger than 35 MV/m.

2000

The CLIC study of a high-energy (0.5 -5 TeV), high-luminosity (10 34 -10 35 cm -2 sec -1 ) e ± linear collider is presented. Beam acceleration using high frequency (30 GHz) normal-conducting structures operating at high accelerating fields (150 MV/m) significantly reduces the length and, in consequence, the cost of the linac. Using parameters derived from general scaling laws for linear colliders, the beam stability is shown to be similar to lower frequency designs in spite of the strong wake-field dependency on frequency. A new cost-effective and efficient drive beam generation scheme for RF power production by the so-called "Two-Beam Acceleration" method is described. It uses a thermionic gun and a fully-loaded normal-conducting linac operating at low frequency (937 MHz) to generate and accelerate the drive beam bunches, and RF multiplication by funnelling in compressor rings to produce the desired bunch structure. Recent 30 GHz hardware developments and CLIC Test Facility (CTF) results are described.

1996

A hardware R&D for the C-band (5712 MHz) rf system for a linear collider started in 1996 as a KEK research program. The first high-power test is scheduled for 1997. An accelerating gradient of 31 MV/m ( including beam loading ) will be generated by 50 MW C- band klystrons in combination with an rf-compression system. The klystron and its