No Arabic abstract
This paper describes simulation analyses on beam and laser (X-ray)-driven accelerations in effective nanotube models obtained from Vsim and EPOCH codes. Experimental setups to detect wakefields are also outlined with accelerator facilities at Fermilab and NIU. In the FAST facility, the electron beamline was successfully commissioned at 50 MeV and it is being upgraded toward higher energies for electron accelerator R&D. The 50 MeV injector beamline of the facility is used for X-ray crystal-channeling radiation with a diamond target. It has been proposed to utilize the same diamond crystal for a channeling acceleration POC test. Another POC experiment is also designed for the NIU accelerator lab with time-resolved electron diffraction. Recently, a stable generation of single-cycle laser pulses with tens of Petawatt power based on thin film compression (TFC) technique has been investigated for target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) and radiation pressure acceleration (RPA). The experimental plan with a nanometer foil is discussed with an available test facility such as Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP).
Solid-state based wakefield acceleration of charged particles was previously proposed to obtain extremely high gradients on the order of 1-10 TeV/m. In recent years the possibility of using either metallic or carbon nanotube structures is attracting new attention. The use of carbon nanotubes would allow us to accelerate and channel particles overcoming many of the limitations of using natural crystals, e.g. channeling aperture restrictions and thermal-mechanical robustness issues. In this paper, we propose a potential proof of concept experiment using carbon nanotube arrays, assuming the beam parameters and conditions of accelerator facilities already available, such as CLEAR at CERN and CLARA at Daresbury. The acceleration performance of carbon nanotube arrays is investigated by using a 2D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) model based on a multi-hollow plasma. Optimum experimental beam parameters and system layout are discussed.
Free Electron Lasers (FEL) are commonly regarded as the potential key application of laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA). It has been found that electron bunches exiting from state-of-the-art LWFAs exhibit a normalized 6-dimensional beam brightness comparable to those in conventional linear accelerators. Effectively exploiting this beneficial beam property for LWFA-based FELs is challenging due to the extreme initial conditions particularly in terms of beam divergence and energy spread. Several different approaches for capturing, reshaping and matching LWFA beams to suited undulators, such as bunch decompression or transverse-gradient undulator schemes, are currently being explored. In this article the transverse gradient undulator concept will be discussed with a focus on recent experimental achievements.
Terahertz (THz)-driven acceleration has recently emerged as a new route for delivering ultrashort bright electron beams efficiently, reliably, and in a compact setup. Many THz-driven acceleration related working schemes and key technologies have been successfully demonstrated and are continuously being improved to new limits. However, the achieved acceleration gradient and energy gain remain low, and the potential physics and technical challenges in the high field and high energy regime are still under-explored. Here we report a record energy gain of 170 keV in a single-stage configuration, and demonstrate the first cascaded acceleration of a relativistic beam with a 204 keV energy gain in a two-stages setup. Whole-bunch acceleration is accomplished with an average accelerating gradient of 85 MV/m and a peak THz electric field of 1.1 GV/m. This proof-of-principle result is a crucial advance in THz-driven acceleration with a major impact on future electron sources and related scientific discoveries.
Accelerators magnets must have minimal magnetic field imperfections for reducing particle-beam instabilities. In the case of coils made of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes, the field imperfections from persistent currents need to be carefully evaluated. In this paper we study the use of superconducting screens based on HTS tapes for reducing the magnetic field imperfections in accelerator magnets. The screens exploit the magnetization by persistent currents to cancel out the magnetic field error. The screens are aligned with the main field components, such that only the undesired field components are compensated. The screens are passive, self-regulating, and do not require any external source of energy. Measurements in liquid nitrogen at 77 Kelvin show for dipole-field configurations a significant reduction of the magnetic-field error up to a factor of four. The residual error is explained via numerical simulations, accounting for the geometrical imperfections in the HTS screens, thus achieving satisfactory agreement with experimental results. Simulations show that if screens are increased in width and thickness, and operated at 4.5 Kelvin, field errors may be eliminated almost entirely for the typical excitation cycles of accelerator magnets.
Crystal channeling technology has offered various opportunities in the accelerator community with a viability of ultrahigh gradient (TV/m) acceleration for future HEP collider. The major challenge of channeling acceleration is that ultimate acceleration gradients might require a high power driver in the hard x-ray regime (~ 40 keV). This x-ray energy exceeds those for x-rays as of today, although x-ray lasers can efficiently excite solid plasma and accelerate particles inside a crystal channel. Moreover, only disposable crystal accelerators are possible at such high externally excited fields which would exceed the ionization thresholds destroying the atomic structure, so acceleration will take place only in a short time before full dissociation of the lattice. Carbon-based nanostructures have great potential with a wide range of flexibility and superior physical strength, which can be applied to channeling acceleration. This paper presents a beam-driven channeling acceleration concept with CNTs and discusses feasible experiments with the Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator (ASTA) in Fermilab.