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We report on the first measurements of coherent microwave impulses from high-energy particle-induced electromagnetic showers generated via the Askaryan effect in a dielectric-loaded waveguide. Bunches of 12.16 GeV electrons with total bunch energy of $\sim 10^3-10^4$ GeV were pre-showered in tungsten, and then measured with WR-51 rectangular (12.6 mm by 6.3 mm) waveguide elements loaded with solid alumina ($Al_2 O_3$) bars. In the 5-8 GHz $TE_{10}$ single-mode band determined by the presence of the dielectric in the waveguide, we observed band-limited microwave impulses with amplitude proportional to bunch energy. Signals in different waveguide elements measuring the same shower were used to estimate relative time differences with 2.3 picosecond precision. These measurements establish a basis for using arrays of alumina-loaded waveguide elements, with exceptional radiation hardness, as very high precision timing planes for high-energy physics detectors., 16 pages, 15 figures

Building more compact accelerators to deliver high brightness electron beams for the generation of high flux, highly coherent radiation is a priority for the photon science community. A relatively straightforward reduction in footprint can be achieved by using high-gradient X-band (11.4 GHz) rf technology. To this end, an X-band injector consisting of a 5.5 cell rf gun and a 1-m long linac has been commissioned at SLAC. It delivers an 85 MeV electron beam with peak brightness somewhat better than that achieved in S-band photoinjectors, such as the one developed for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The X-band rf gun operates with up to a 200 MV/m peak field on the cathode, and has been used to produce bunches of a few pC to 1.2 nC in charge. Notably, bunch lengths as short as 120 fs rms have been measured for charges of 5 pC (∼3×10^{7} electrons), and normalized transverse emittances as small as 0.22 mm-mrad have been measured for this same charge level. Bunch lengths as short as 400 (250) fs rms have been achieved for electron bunches of 100 (20) pC with transverse normalized emittances of 0.7 (0.35) mm-mrad. We report on the performance and the lessons learned from the operation and optimization of this first generation X-band gun.

This paper presents two-photon photoemission from a copper cathode in an $X$-band photoinjector. We experimentally verified that the electron bunch charge from photoemission out of a copper cathode scales with laser intensity (I) square for 400 nm wavelength photons. We compare this two-photon photoemission process with the single photon process at 266 nm. Despite the high reflectivity ($R$) of the copper surface for 400 nm photons ($R=0.48$) and higher thermal energy of photoelectrons (two-photon at 200 nm) compared to 266 nm photoelectrons, the quantum efficiency of the two-photon photoemission process (400 nm) exceeds the single-photon process (266 nm) when the incident laser intensity is above $300\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GW}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. At the same laser pulse energy ($E$) and other experimental conditions, emitted charge scales inversely with the laser pulse duration. A thermal emittance of 2.7 mm-mrad per mm root mean square (rms) was measured on our cathode which exceeds by sixty percent larger compared to the theoretical predictions, but this discrepancy is similar to previous experimental thermal emittance on copper cathodes with 266 nm photons. The damage of the cathode surface of our first-generation $X$-band gun from both rf breakdowns and laser impacts mostly explains this result. Using a 400 nm laser can substantially simplify the photoinjector system, and make it an alternative solution for compact pulsed electron sources.

We present results on ultrafast gas electron diffraction (UGED) experiments with femtosecond resolution using the MeV electron gun at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. UGED is a promising method to investigate molecular dynamics in the gas phase because electron pulses can probe the structure with a high spatial resolution. Until recently, however, it was not possible for UGED to reach the relevant timescale for the motion of the nuclei during a molecular reaction. Using MeV electron pulses has allowed us to overcome the main challenges in reaching femtosecond resolution, namely delivering short electron pulses on a gas target, overcoming the effect of velocity mismatch between pump laser pulses and the probe electron pulses, and maintaining a low timing jitter. At electron kinetic energies above 3 MeV, the velocity mismatch between laser and electron pulses becomes negligible. The relativistic electrons are also less susceptible to temporal broadening due to the Coulomb force. One of the challenges of diffraction with relativistic electrons is that the small de Broglie wavelength results in very small diffraction angles. In this paper we describe the new setup and its characterization, including capturing static diffraction patterns of molecules in the gas phase, finding time-zero with sub-picosecond accuracy and first time-resolved diffraction experiments. The new device can achieve a temporal resolution of 100 fs root-mean-square, and sub-angstrom spatial resolution. The collimation of the beam is sufficient to measure the diffraction pattern, and the transverse coherence is on the order of 2 nm. Currently, the temporal resolution is limited both by the pulse duration of the electron pulse on target and by the timing jitter, while the spatial resolution is limited by the average electron beam current and the signal-to-noise ratio of the detection system. We also discuss plans for improving both the temporal resolution and the spatial resolution.

Charged particle radiography with 800 MeV protons has been used for decades at LANL and developed around the world to study dynamic material properties. Recently, charged particle radiography has been demonstrated with the use of high-energy electrons. Because of the difference in the mass of the electron compared to the mass of the proton, the radiographic processes are substantially different and well suited to the study of fast dynamic processes in relatively thin systems. This presentation will show the layout required for such measurements, along with data collected from this recent demonstration performed with 14 GeV electrons generated at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The radiographic performance for flash measurements will be presented, along with the limitations of this measurement technique.

We report generation of density modulation at terahertz (THz) frequencies in a relativistic electron beam through laser modulation of the beam longitudinal phase space. We show that by modulating the energy distribution of the beam with two lasers, density modulation at the difference frequency of the two lasers can be generated after the beam passes through a chicane. In this experiment, density modulation around 10 THz was generated by down-converting the frequencies of an 800 nm laser and a 1550 nm laser. The central frequency of the density modulation can be tuned by varying the laser wavelengths, beam energy chirp, or momentum compaction of the chicane. This technique can be applied to accelerator-based light sources for generation of coherent THz radiation and marks a significant advance toward tunable narrow band THz sources.

Echo-enabled harmonic generation free electron lasers hold great promise for the generation of fully coherent radiation in x-ray wavelengths. Here we report the first evidence of high harmonics from the echo-enabled harmonic generation technique in the realistic scenario where the laser energy modulation is comparable to the beam slice energy spread. In this experiment, coherent radiation at the seventh harmonic of the second seed laser is generated when the energy modulation amplitude is about 2-3 times the slice energy spread. The experiment confirms the underlying physics of echo-enabled harmonic generation and may have a strong impact on emerging seeded x-ray free electron lasers that are capable of generating laserlike x rays which will advance many areas of science.

We report the first experimental demonstration of the echo-enabled harmonic generation technique, which holds great promise for generation of high-power, fully coherent short-wavelength radiation. In this experiment, coherent radiation at the 3rd and 4th harmonics of the second seed laser is generated from the so-called beam echo effect. The experiment confirms the physics behind this technique and paves the way for applying the echo-enabled harmonic generation technique for seeded x-ray free electron lasers. © 2010 The American Physical Society.

Fundamental power couplers for superconducting accelerator applications like the ILC are complicated transmission line assemblies that must simultaneously accommodate demanding RF power, cryogenic, and cleanliness constraints. When these couplers are RF conditioned, the observed response is an aggregate of all the parts of the coupler and the specific features that dominate the conditioning response are hard to determine. To better understand and characterize RF conditioning phenomena toward improving performance and reducing conditioning time, a high-power coupler component test stand has been built at SLAC. Operating at 1.3 GHz, this test stand was designed to measure the conditioning behavior of select components of the TTFIII coupler independently, including outer-conductor bellows, tube transitions, copper plating, surface preparations, and cold window geometries and coatings. A description of the test stand, the measurement approach, and a summary of the results obtained so far are presented.

We present a multimode $X$-band rf pulse compression system suitable for a TeV-scale electron-positron linear collider such as the Next Linear Collider (NLC). The NLC main linac operating frequency is 11.424 GHz. A single NLC rf unit is required to produce 400 ns pulses with 475 MW of peak power. Each rf unit should power approximately 5 m of accelerator structures. The rf unit design consists of two 75 MW klystrons and a dual-moded resonant-delay-line pulse compression system that produces a flat output pulse. The pulse compression system components are all overmoded, and most components are designed to operate with two modes. This approach allows high-power-handling capability while maintaining a compact, inexpensive system. We detail the design of this system and present experimental cold test results. We describe the design and performance of various components. The high-power testing of the system is verified using four 50 MW solenoid-focused klystrons run off a common 400 kV solid-state modulator. The system has produced 400 ns rf pulses of greater than 500 MW. We present the layout of our system, which includes a dual-moded transmission waveguide system and a dual-moded resonant line (SLED-II) pulse compression system. We also present data on the processing and operation of this system, which has set high-power records in coherent and phase controlled pulsed rf.

Accelerator structures of a wide variety have been damaged by RF breakdowns. Very little is known about the mechanisms that cause the breakdown and the damage although there has been theoretical work. Using an array of ultrasonic acoustic emission sensors we have been able to locate and classify breakdown events more accurately than possible using microwave techniques. Data from the technique has led to improvements in the design of the NLC X-band RF structure. We report results of acoustic emission studies at the DESY TESLA Test Facility and the SLAC NLC Test Accelerator.

The NLC and JLC groups face two major challenges in designing X-Band accelerator structures for an electron-positron linear collider. The first is to demonstrate stable, long-term operation at a 70 MV/m gradient, which is required to keep the machine cost low, and the second is to strongly suppress the structure long-range wakefield, which is required to achieve high luminosity. During the past 2 years, the major emphasis has been on proving high gradient operation, although dipole wakefield suppression studies are continuing. This paper describes high gradient test results from a series of prototype TW and SW structures being developed for the NLC/JLC. Schemes for damping and detuning the dipole modes of these structures are also presented.

A full-scale prototype C-band structure for the e/sup +/e/sup -/ linear collider has been built in which the dipole powers are damped to suppress the long-range transverse wakefield. To verify that the damping works as expected, the C-band structure was tested in the Accelerator Structure SETup (ASSET) at SLAC. This paper presents results of wakefield measurement with ASSET.

Since 1996, the transverse beam sizes at the SLC interaction point (IP) can be determined with a 'laser wire', by detecting the rate of Compton-scattered photons as a function of the beam-laser separation in space. Nominal laser parameters are: 350 nm wavelength, 2 mJ energy per pulse, 40 Hz repetition rate, and 150 ps FWHM pulse length. The laser system is presently being modified to enable measurements of the longitudinal beam profile. For this purpose, two laser pulses of slightly different frequency are superimposed, which creates a travelling fringe pattern and, thereby, introduces a bunch-to-bunch variation of the Compton rate. The magnitude of this variation depends on the beat wavelength and on the Fourier transform of the longitudinal distribution. This laser heterodyne technique is implemented by adding a l-km long optical fibre at the laser oscillator output, which produces a linearly chirped laser pulse with 4.5-A linewidth and 60-ps FWHM pulse length. Also, the pulse is amplified in a regenerative amplifier and tripled with two nonlinear crystals. Then a Michelson interferometer spatially overlaps two split chirped pulses, which are temporally shifted with respect to each other, generating a quasi-sinusoidal adjustable fringe pattern. This laser pulse is then transported to the Interaction Point.

RF processing studies of 1.8-m X-band (11.4 GHz) traveling wave structures at the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA) have revealed breakdown-related damage at gradients lower than expected from earlier tests with standing wave and shorter, lower group velocity traveling wave structures. To understand this difference, a series of structures with different group velocities and lengths are being processed. In parallel, efforts are being made to improve processing procedures and to reduce structure contaminants and absorbed gases. This paper presents results from these studies., Presented at the 2001 Particle Accelerator Conference, Chicago, Il., June 18-22, 2001

We have constructed and tested a 2 um resolution beam profile monitor based on optical transition radiation (OTR). Theoretical studies of OTR [1] show that extremely high resolution, of the order of the wavelength of the light detected, is possible. Such high‐resolution single pulse profile monitors will be very useful for future free electron laser and linear collider projects. Using the very low emittance 1.3 GeV electron beam at the KEK Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) [2] (1.4nm ex × 15pm ey), we have imaged transition radiation from 5 micron σ beam spots. Our test device consisted of a finely polished target, a thin fused silica window, a 35 mm working distance microscope objective (5x and 10x) and a triggered CCD camera. A wire scanner located near the target is used to verify the profile monitor performance. In this paper we report results of beam tests.

Short period, high field undulators have been shown to permit operation of x-ray free-electron lasers with short gain-lengths, and at unprecedented short wavelengths. In addition, the reduced beam energy required to reach resonance with a given radiation wavelength in short period undulators could prove useful in advanced inverse free-electron laser (IFEL) seeding schemes for future light sources, such as high-gain harmonic generation and echo-enabled harmonic generation, or in IFEL acceleration. We report here the in situ beam testing of a 9 mm period length cryogenic undulator having undulator parameter near unity in the context appropriate for advanced seeding and acceleration schemes, a linear accelerator. Because of the short period length of the undulator, a 47 MeV high-brightness electron beam could be used to produce near infrared photons via the undulator radiation mechanism. The undulator radiation was observed through a filter and the spectral response of the undulator is compared to simulation. Finally, an 800 nm seed laser was introduced in order to generate an energy modulation via the IFEL mechanism. Resonance between the electron beam and the laser seed was achieved without detailed knowledge of the temperature dependent undulator magnetic field through the observation of the undulator radiation. The energy modulation (and concomitant energy spread increase) of the electron beam was observed both directly in an electron beam spectrometer and indirectly via coherent transition radiation after conversion to a density modulation in a longitudinally dispersive chicane.

A general overview of a new control system for SLAC klystrons is presented along with a detailed description of the remote controller for measurement and control of accelerator components.

Both rings of PEP-II use drift tube kickers in the longitudinal bunch-by-bunch feedback system. Efforts are now underway to increase the stored beam currents and luminosity of PEP-II, and beam-induced heating of these structures, particularly in the low energy ring (LER) is of concern. An alternative kicker design based on the over-damped cavity kicker, first developed by INFN-Frascati is being built for PEP-II. This low loaded Q (or wide bandwidth) structure is fed by a network of ridged waveguides coupled to a simple pill-box cavity. Beam induced RF power is also coupled out of the cavity to external loads, so that the higher order modes (HOMs) excited in the structure are well-damped. This paper details the kicker design for PEP-II and discusses some of the design trade-offs between shunt impedance and bandwidth, as well as the influence of the feedthroughs on the kicker parameters. Estimates of the expected power deposition in the cavity are also provided

An x-ray beam-size monitor for positrons in the lowenergy ring (LER) of the PEP-II B Factory at SLAC is being designed to accommodate the present 2-A, 3.1-GeV beam and anticipated currents of up to 4.7 A. The final photon stop of an arc will be rebuilt to pass dipole radiation through cooled apertures to optics 17 m from the source. The initial installation will use pinhole optics with a calculated resolution of 35 µm. We then plan an upgrade using zone-plate imaging to obtain a resolution of 6 µm. Two multilayer x-ray mirrors precede the zone plate, limiting the bandwidth to 1%, in order to avoid chromatic blurring and protect the zone plate. Despite the narrow bandwidth, the zone plate’s larger diameter compared to a pinhole camera allows for a comparable photon flux. We will image all of the available 1700 LER bunches and also measure them individually, searching for variations along the train due to electron-cloud and beam-beam effects, using a scanning detector conceptually derived from a wire scanner. A mask with three narrow slots at different orientations will scan the image to obtain three projections. In one passage, signals from a fast scintillator and photomultiplier will be rapidly digitized and sorted to profile each bunch.