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During the last decade, the production of soft to hard x-rays (up to 25 keV) at XFEL facilities has enabled new developments in a broad range of disciplines. One caveat is that these instruments can require a large amount of real estate. For example, the XFEL driver is typically an electron beam linear accelerator (LINAC) and the need for higher electron beam energies capable of generating higher energy X-rays can require longer linacs; costs quickly become prohibitive, requiring state of art methods. One cost-saving measure is to produce a high accelerating gradient while reducing cavity size. Compact accelerating structures are also high-frequency. Here, we describe design concepts for a high-gradient, cryo-cooled LINAC for XFEL facilities in the C-band regime (~4-8 GHz). We are also exploring C-band for different applications including drivers for security applications. We investigate 2 different traveling wave (TW) geometries optimized for high-gradient operation as modeled with VSim software., Proceedings of the 12th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2021, Campinas, SP, Brazil

Accelerating structures are usually manufactured by precision turning of individual cells combined with precision milling for complex parts such as rf power couplers. These multiple parts are staked and brazed into a complete structure. We consider an alternative approach: precision milling of multiple cells and couplers into metal blocks that comprise halves or quadrants of the complete structure. We successfully produced a 12~GHz Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) main linac accelerating structure prototype using this method. A previous prototype was designed as an open structure with a gap between cell irises. Here we describe a different approach, an accelerating structure which is brazed through irises. It is based on a multi-cell traveling wave structure designed at CERN for PSI, so called "T24 PSI 12 GHz". This brazed-through irises structure was built at SLAC for high power tests at CERN. Here we describe the details of this process., Proceedings of the 29\textsuperscript{th} Linear Accelerator Conf., LINAC2018, Beijing, China

We present a new instrument designed to detect RF pulse shortening caused by vacuum RF breakdown in mm-wave particle accelerators. RF breakdown limits the performance of high gradient RF accelerators. To understand the properties of these breakdowns, it is necessary to have diagnostics that reliably detect RF breakdowns. In X-band or S-band accelerators, RF breakdowns are detected by measuring RF pulse shortening, vacuum burst, or, if current monitors are available, spikes in the field-emitted currents. In mm-wave accelerators, all of these methods are difficult to use. In our experiments, we could not measure RF pulse shortening directly with a crystal detector because the RF pulse is very short'just a few nanoseconds'and changes in the measured signal were masked by RF amplitude jitter. To overcome this limitation, we built a single-shot spectrometer with a frequency range of 117-125 GHz and a resolution of 0.1 GHz. The spectrometer should be able to measure the widening of the spectrum caused by the shortening of nanosecond-long pulses. We present design considerations, first experimental results obtained at FACET, and planned future improvements for the spectrometer., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

We studied the physics and properties of rf breakdowns in high gradient traveling-wave accelerating structures at 100 GHz. The structures are open, made of two halves with a gap in between. The rf fields were excited in the structure by an ultra-relativistic electron beam generated by the FACET facility at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We observed rf breakdowns generated in the presence of GV/m scale electric fields. We varied the rf fields excited by the FACET bunch by moving structure relative to the beam and by changing the gap between structure halves. Reliable breakdowns detectors allowed us to measure the rf breakdown rate at these different rf parameters. We measured radiated rf energy with a pyro-detector. When the beam was off-axis, we observed beam deflection in the beam position monitors and on the screen of a magnetic spectrometer. The measurements of the deflection allowed us to verify our calculation of the accelerating gradient., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

Vacuum electronic devices, such as rf sources for accelerator applications, must provide high rf power with high efficiency. To achieve these requirements, multi-beam klystron and sheet-beam klystron devices have been developed. Multi-beam klystrons, at high frequency employ separate output cavities; hence they have the disadvantage that combining all the rf pulses, generated by all the beams, is challenging. Sheet-beam klystrons have problems with instabilities and with space charge forces that makes the beam not naturally confined. We are proposing an alternative approach that reduces space charge problems, by adopting geometries in which the space charge forces are naturally balanced. An example is when the electron beam is generated by a central source (well) and the electron motion corresponds to the natural expansion of the electron cloud (three-dimensional device). In this paper we will present the design and challenges of a bi-dimensional rf source, a cylindrical klystron, composed by concentric pancake resonant cavities. In this case, space charge forces are naturally balanced in the azimuthal direction., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

We discuss the possibility of using the RadiBeam/SLAC dechirper recently installed at LCLS for measuring the bunch length of very short bunches, less than 1 fs perhaps as short as 100 atto second. When a bunch travels close to one of the jaws the particles of the bunch get a transverse kick depends upon the position of a particle in a bunch. The tail particles get more kick. The transverse force also gets a nonlinear dependence on the transverse position. The stretched bunch can be measured at the YAG screen that is 100 m downstream the dechirper. The most important aspect of this measurement is that that no synchronization is needed. The Green's function for the transverse kick was evaluated based on the precise wake field calculations of the dechirper corrugated structure*. Using this function we can restore the longitudinal shape of the bunch. This may also help to see if a bunch has any micro-bunch structure., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

As part of research on the physics of rf breakdowns we performed experiments with high gradient traveling-wave mm-wave accelerating structures. The accelerating structures are open, composed of two identical halves separated by an adjustable gap. The electromagnetic fields are excited by an ultra-relativistic electron beam. We observed that a confined travelling-wave mode exists in half of the accelerating structure. The experiments were conducted at FACET facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Depending on the gap width, the accelerating structure had beam-synchronous frequencies that vary from 90 to 140 GHz. When we opened the gap by more than half wavelength the synchronous wave remains trapped. Its behavior is consistent with the so called "surface wave". We characterized this beam-wave interaction by several methods: measurement of the radiated rf energy with the pyro-detector, measurement of the spectrum with an interferometer, measurement of the beam deflection by using the beam position monitors and profile monitor., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

Photo rf guns are a source of electron beams for X-ray FELs such as LCLS and European XFEL. In existing photoguns power is coupled into the cavity by waveguides through the cell walls, like LCLS, or through coaxial coupling, at the European XFEL. We are considering feeding a gun using a circular waveguide with the TM01 mode. To do that we need a mode launcher, a matched device that couples the rectangular TE01 mode waveguide to a TM01 mode in a circular waveguide. Use of the mode launcher reduces complexity of the gun cavity and increases flexibility of positioning the input waveguide relative to the gun body. Mode launchers have been successfully used at SLAC and elsewhere for X-band high gradient tests. Because the existing mode launchers were not built for high brightness guns, they have a significant quadrupole field component. High brightness rf guns have tight requirements on output beam properties, and this quadrupole component adversely affects the beam. We have designed a mode launcher free of this disadvantage. We present design considerations, methodology, and an example S-band mode launcher., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

Systematic design of RF photoguns involves multiple RF simulations in conjunction with beam dynamic simulations. RF simulations include tuning gun frequency, matching the gun to the feeding RF circuit, balancing the on axis electric fields between gun cells, minimizing surface electric and magnetic fields and power consumption, and optimizing separation of resonant mode frequencies. We created a tool that allows this multiple parameter optimization to be done automatically. We used SUPERFISH to accomplish the RF simulations. We present an example of the rf photogun TOPGUN design using these tools., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

We present the design and parameters of single-cell accelerating structures for high-gradient testing at 110 GHz. The purpose of this work is to study the basic physics of ultrahigh vacuum RF breakdown in high-gradient RF accelerators. The accelerating structures consist of pi-mode standing-wave cavities fed with TM01 circular waveguide mode. The geometry and field shape of these accelerating structures is as close as practical to single-cell standing-wave X-band accelerating structures, more than 40 of which were tested at SLAC. This wealth of X-band data will serve as a baseline for these 110 GHz tests. The structures will be powered from a pulsed MW gyrotron oscillator. One MW of RF power from the gyrotron may allow us to reach a peak accelerating gradient of 400 MeV/m., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

FERMI is a single-pass linac-based FEL user-facility covering the wavelength range from 80 nm to 4 nm and is located next to the third generation synchrotron radiation facility Elettra in Trieste, Italy. The first FEL line in operation (FEL-1) has been opened to users at the end of 2012, while the second FEL line (FEL-2) covering the shorter wavelength range down to 4 nm is in commissioning. The linac is composed of 16 S-band accelerating structures. Seven of them are backward structures equipped with SLED system. Following the preliminary tests on one plant, in order to increase the operational accelerating gradient, phase modulation of the SLED drive power has been implemented in all these structures. The shape of the phase modulation is applied via the LLRF system firmware and can be modified if needed. This paper discusses the optimization of the phase modulation parameters and provides a summary of the experimental results.

This article describes the design goals of FERMI@Elettra, reports on the goals achieved so far and shows how the facility development has been driven by the new research frontier of ultra-fast, extreme ultra-violet and soft X-ray science. The commissioning phases and first experience with user pilot experiments are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2011 by IPAC'11/EPS-AG.

2011/2012 Il laser ad elettroni liberi (FEL) è una sorgente luminosa di quarta generazione che ha specifiche più stringenti rispetto alle sorgenti luminose di terza generazione, tra le quali ricordiamo i sincrotroni. La cosiddetta emittanza e la traiettoria del fascio determinano la qualità del fascio, e devono soddisfare severi requisiti nei FEL. Per esempio, nella sala ondulatori, la posizione del fascio deve essere misurata con risoluzione micrometrica. Il controllo della posizione del fascio può essere effettuato utilizzando i “Cavity Beam Position Monitor” (Cavity BPM). Questa tesi descrive l’attività di ricerca eseguita sui Cavity BPM. Precisamente, la progettazione, la simulazione elettromagnetica e l'ottimizzazione di un Cavity BPM sono state effettuate. Successivamente, 25 Cavity BPM sono stati fabbricati e installati nella sala ondulatori del progetto FERMI@Elettra. I segnali sono stati acquisiti e processati con un nuovo tipo di elettronica, e una serie di misure sono state effettuate. Il secondo dispositivo studiato in questo dottorato è l'acceleratore lineare di particelle. Tradizionali strutture acceleranti, dotate di un accoppiatore a singolo ingresso causano la degradazione delle proprietà fascio elettronico, a causa dell’ asimmetria del campo elettromagnetico. Un nuovo tipo di accoppiatore, con cortocircuito mobile, viene proposto, nel quale il campo elettrico è stato simmetrizzato. La progettazione, simulazione elettromagnetica e ottimizzazione del dispositivo sono state effettuate, e un prototipo della struttura accelerante è stato prodotto e sintonizzato. Il campo elettrico è stato misurato con il metodo bead-pull. Infine, in questa tesi sono descritti i deflettori RF ad alta energia, che sono degli strumenti di diagnostica in grado di misurare le proprietà fascio elettronico, in particolare la lunghezza del banco di elettroni e lo spazio longitudinale di fase. The Free Electron Laser (FEL) is a fourth generation light source that has more stringent specifications with respect to the third generation light sources, such as synchrotrons. The so-called emittance and the beam trajectory determine the beam quality, and must satisfy stringent requirements in FELs. For example, in the undulator hall, the beam position must be measured with the micrometer resolution. The control in the beam position can be achieved using a cavity beam position monitor (Cavity BPM). This thesis describes the research performed on the cavity BPM. Precisely, the electromagnetic design, the simulation and the optimization of a cavity BPM have been carried out. Subsequently, 25 cavity BPMs have been manufactured and installed in the undulator hall of the FERMI@Elettra project. A new RF front-end has been set up, and a series of measurements have been performed. The second device studied in this PhD is the travelling wave linear accelerator. Traditional accelerating structures endowed with a single feed coupler cause degradation of the electron beam properties, due to the electromagnetic field asymmetry. A new type of single feed structure with movable short circuit is proposed, where the electric field has been symmetryzed. The electromagnetic design, simulation and optimization of the device have been carried out, and a prototype of the accelerating structure has been produced and tuned. The electric field has been measured with the bead-pull method. Finally, in this thesis are described the High Energy RF Deflector (HERFD), which are a fundamental diagnostic tool to measure the electron beam properties, in particular the bunch length and the longitudinal phase space. XXV Ciclo 1984

Free-electron lasers (FELs) are promising devices for generating light with laser-like properties in the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray spectral regions. Recently, FELs based on the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) mechanism have allowed major breakthroughs in diffraction and spectroscopy applications, despite the relatively large shot-to-shot intensity and photon-energy fluctuations and the limited longitudinal coherence inherent in the SASE mechanism. Here, we report results on the initial performance of the FERMI seeded FEL, based on the high-gain harmonic generation configuration, in which an external laser is used to initiate the emission process. Emission from the FERMI FEL-1 source occurs in the form of pulses carrying energy of several tens of microjoules per pulse and tunable throughout the 65 to 20 nm wavelength range, with unprecedented shot-to-shot wavelength stability, low-intensity fluctuations, close to transform-limited bandwidth, transverse and longitudinal coherence and full control of polarization.

FERMI is the first user facility based upon an externally seeded free-electron laser (FEL) and was designed to deliver high quality, transversely and longitudinally coherent radiation pulses in the extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray spectral regimes. The FERMI linear accelerator includes a laser heater to control the longitudinal microbunching instability, which otherwise is expected to degrade the quality of the high brightness electron beam sufficiently to reduce the FEL output intensity and spectral brightness. In this paper, we present the results of the FERMI laser heater commissioning. For the first time, we show that optimizing the electron beam heating at an upstream location (beam energy, 100 MeV) leads to a reduction of the incoherent energy spread at the linac exit (beam energy, 1.2 GeV). We also discuss some of the positive effects of such heating upon the emission of coherent optical transition radiation and the FEL output intensity.

The front-end injection systems of the FERMI@Elettra linac produce high brightness electron beams that define the performance of the Free Electron Laser (FEL). The photoinjector mainly consists of the radiofrequency (rf) gun and of two S-band rf structures which accelerate the beam. Accelerating structures endowed with a single feed coupler cause deflection and degradation of the electron beam properties, due to the asymmetry of the electromagnetic field. In this paper, a new type of single feed structure with movable short-circuit is proposed. It has the advantage of having only one waveguide input, but we propose a novel design where the dipolar component is reduced. Moreover the racetrack geometry allows to reduce the quadrupolar component. This paper presents the microwave design and the analysis of the particle motion inside the linac. A prototype has been machined at the Elettra facility to verify the new coupler design and the rf field has been measured by adopting the bead-pull method. The results are here presented, showing good agreement with the expectations.

Measuring and controlling the longitudinal phase space and the time-slice emittance of the electron bunch entering at 1.2 GeV in the undulator beam-lines, are crucial to obtain high FEL performances. In the FERMI@Elettra machine, two RF deflecting cavities have been installed at the end of the linac, in order to stretch the electron bunch horizontally and vertically, respectively. The two cavities are individually powered by the same klystron and a switch system is used to choose the deflection plane. This paper reports the RF measurements carried out during the acceptance test and the RF conditioning including the breakdown rate measurements.

We report the first generation of coherent, tunable, variable-polarization, soft X-ray femtosecond pulses, generated by a seeded free-electron laser (FEL) operating in the fresh bunch, two-stage harmonic upshift configuration. Characterization of the radiation proves this FEL configuration can produce single-transverse-mode, narrow-spectral-bandwidth output pulses of several tens of microjoules energy and low pulse-to-pulse wavelength jitter at final wavelengths of 10.8 nm and below. The fresh bunch configuration enhances the FEL emission at high harmonic orders by avoiding a gain depression due to the energy spread induced by the first-stage FEL interaction. Coherent signals measured down to 4.3 nm suggest this configuration is directly scalable to photon energies that will enable scientific investigations below the carbon K-edge, including access to the L-edges of many magnetic materials, with an energy per pulse unlocking the gate for experiments in the soft X-ray region with close to Fourier-transform-limited pulses. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

The Cavity Beam Position Monitor (BPM) is a beam diagnostic instrument which, in a seeded Free Electron Laser (FEL), allows the measurement of the electron beam position in a non-destructive way and with sub-micron resolution. It is composed by two resonant cavities called reference and position cavity, respectively. The measurement exploits the dipole mode that arises when the electron bunch passes off axis. In this paper we describe the Cavity BPM that has been designed and realized in the context of the FERMI@Elettra project [1]. New strategies have been adopted for the microwave design, for both the reference and the position cavities. Both cavities have been simulated by means of Ansoft HFSS [2] and CST Particle Studio [3], and have been realized using high precision lathe and wire-EDM (Electro-Discharge) machine, with a new technique that avoids the use of the sinker-EDM machine. Tuners have been used to accurately adjust the working frequencies for both cavities. The RF parameters have been estimated, and the modifications of the resonant frequencies produced by brazing and tuning have been evaluated. Finally, the Cavity BPM has been installed and tested in the presence of the electron beam.

The free electron laser (FEL) is a fourth-generation light source based on the interaction between electromagnetic fields and ultra-relativistic electron bunches which travel along the axis of a vacuum beampipe. The Cavity Beam Position Monitor (Cavity BPM) is a new kind of diagnostic tool for measuring the beam displacement from the beampipe axis. At the “Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A.”, Italy, a seeded FEL, presently under development for the FERMI@Elettra project [1], will provide an ultra bright coherent X-ray light which will be employed for the study of chemical reactions and dynamic molecular processes. This paper presents the Cavity BPM and a new measurement system, with the first resolution assessment.

Field asymmetries in the rf coupler of accelerating structures degrade the projected beam transverse emittance, especially at low energy. This paper presents an alternative single feed coupler design that reduces the dipolar and the quadrupolar field components by exploiting a movable short circuit placed on the opposite waveguide. The structure has been simulated and optimized with the Ansys HFSS simulation code. RF measurements on an aluminum prototype machined in the "Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A.", are here presented. Such results are in good agreement with the simulations.

FERMI, the seeded Free Electron Laser (FEL) located at the Elettra laboratory in Trieste, Italy, welcomed in December 2012 the first external users on the FEL-1 line. This line is based on a single stage of High Gain Harmonic Generation (HGHG), seeded by a UV laser, and covers wavelengths between 80 and 20 nm. The photon energy reached more than 300 J. The second FEL line, FEL-2, covering the lower wavelength range between 20 and 4 nm thanks to a double stage cascaded HGHG scheme, has generated its first coherent photons in October 2012. The latter is the first experimental demonstration of a seeded free electron laser configured as a two-stage cascade operating in the "fresh bunch injection” mode, where the second stage is seeded by the light produced by the first stage. This paper describes the status of the operation and user experiments with FEL-1 and reports about the progress in the commissioning of FEL-2.