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It has been technically challenging to efficiently couple external radio frequency (RF) power to cylindrical dielectric-loaded accelerating (DLA) structures, especially when the DLA structure has a high dielectric constant. This article presents a novel design of matching section for coupling the RF power from a circular waveguide to an $X$ -band DLA structure with a dielectric constant $\varepsilon _{\text {r}}=16.66$ and a loss tangent $\tan \delta =3.43\times {10}^{-5}$ . It consists of a compact dielectric disk with a width of 2.035 mm and a base angle of 60°, resulting in a broadband coupling at a low RF field, which has the potential to survive in the high-power environment. To prevent a sharp dielectric corner break, a 45° chamfer is also added. A microscale vacuum gap, caused by metallic clamping between the thin coating and the outer thick copper jacket, is also studied in detail. Through optimization, most of RF power is coupled into the DLA structure, with no enhancement of peak electromagnetic fields above those of the structure itself. Tolerance studies on the geometrical parameters and mechanical design of the full-assembly structure are also carried out as a reference for fabrication. It has been technically challenging to efficiently couple external radiofrequency (RF) power to cylindrical dielectric-loaded accelerating (DLA) structures, especially when the DLA structure has a high dielectric constant. This paper presents a novel design of matching section for coupling the RF power from a circular waveguide to an X-band DLA structure with a dielectric constant $\varepsilon$$_{r}$ = 16.66 and a loss tangent tan$\delta$ = 3.43 x 10$^{-5}$. It consists of a very compact dielectric disk with a width of 2.035 mm and a tilt angle of 60$^{0}$, resulting in a broadband coupling at a low RF field which has the potential to survive in the high-power environment. To prevent a sharp dielectric corner break, a 45$^{0}$ degree chamfer is also added. A microscale vacuum gap, caused by metallic clamping between the thin coating and the outer thick copper jacket, is also studied in detail. Through optimizations, more than 99% of RF power is coupled into the DLA structure, with the maximum electromagnetic fields located at a DLA structure. Tolerance studies on the geometrical parameters and mechanical design of the full-assembly structure are also carried out as a reference for realistic fabrication.

Dielectric-loaded accelerating (DLA) structures are being studied as an alternative to conventional disk-loaded copper structures to produce the high accelerating gradient. This paper presents the design, fabrication and low-power RF measurement of an externally-powered X-band DLA structure with a dielectric constant epsilon_r=16.66 and a loss tangent tan_delta=0.0000343. A dielectric matching section for coupling the RF power from a circular waveguide to an X-band DLA structure consists of a very compact dielectric disk with a width of 2.035 mm and a tilt angle of 60 degree, resulting in a broadband coupling at a low RF field which has the potential to survive in the high-power environment. Based on simulation studies, a prototype of the DLA structure was fabricated. Results from bench measurements and their comparison with design values are presented. The detailed analysis on the fabrication error which may cause the discrepancy between the RF measurements and simulations is also discussed., Comment: 16 pages, 28 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2008.09203

Dielectric disk accelerating (DDA) structures are being studied as an alternative to conventional disk-loaded copper structures. This paper investigates numerically an efficient X-band DDA structure operating at a higher order mode of TM02-{\pi}. This accelerating structure consists of dielectric disks with irises arranged periodically in a metallic enclosure. Through optimizations, the RF power loss on the metallic wall can be significantly reduced, resulting in an extremely high quality factor Q_0=111064 and a very high shunt impedance R_shunt=605 M{\Omega}/m. The RF-to-beam power efficiency reaches 46.6% which is significantly higher than previously-reported CLIC-G structures with an efficiency of only 28.5%. The optimum geometry of the regular and the end cells is described in detail. Due to the wide bandwidth from the dispersion relation of the accelerating mode, the DDA structure is allowed to have a maximum number of 73 regular cells with a frequency separation of 1.0 MHz, which is superior to that of conventional RF accelerating structures. In addition, the DDA structure is found to have a short-range transverse wakefield lower than that of the CLIC-G structure., Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, submitted for a journal

Advanced acceleration technologies are receiving considerable interest in order to miniaturize future particle accelerators. One such technology is the dual-grating dielectric structures, which can support accelerating fields one to two orders of magnitude higher than the metal RF cavities in conventional accelerators. This opens up the possibility of enabling high accelerating gradients of up to several GV/m. This paper investigates numerically a quartz dual-grating structure which is driven by THz pulses to accelerate electrons. Geometry optimizations are carried out to achieve the trade-offs between accelerating gradient and vacuum channel gap. A realistic electron bunch available from the future Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications (CLARA) is loaded into an optimized 100-period dual-grating structure for a detailed wakefield study. A THz pulse is then employed to interact with this CLARA bunch in the optimized structure. The computed beam quality is analyzed in terms of emittance, energy spread and loaded accelerating gradient. The simulations show that an accelerating gradient of 348 ± 12 MV/m with an emittance growth of 3.0% can be obtained.

Dielectric laser-driven accelerators (DLAs) can provide high accelerating gradients in the GV/m range due to their having higher breakdown thresholds than metals, which opens the way for the miniaturization of the next generation of particle accelerator facilities. Two kinds of scheme, the addition of a Bragg reflector and the use of pulse-front-tilted (PFT) laser illumination, have been studied separately to improve the energy efficiency for dual-grating DLAs. The Bragg reflector enhances the accelerating gradient of the structure, while the PFT increases the effective interaction length. In this paper, we investigate numerically the advantages of using the two schemes in conjunction. Our calculations show that, for a 100-period structure with a period of 2 micrometer, such a design effectively increases the energy gain by more than 100 % when compared to employing the Bragg reflector with a normal laser, and by about 50 % when using standard structures with a PFT laser. A total energy gain of as much as 2.6 MeV can be obtained for a PFT laser beam when illuminating a 2000-period dual-grating structure with a Bragg reflector., Comment: 7 pages, 4 Figures, Proceedings of EAAC2017 Conference

Dielectric laser-driven accelerators (DLAs) based on grating structures are considered to be one of the most promising technologies to reduce the size and cost of future particle accelerators. They offer high accelerating gradients of up to several GV/m in combination with mature lithographic techniques for structure fabrication. This paper numerically investigates the beam quality for acceleration of electrons in a realistic dual-grating DLA. In our simulations, we use beam parameters of the future Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications facility to load an electron bunch into an optimized 100-period dual-grating structure where it interacts with a realistic laser pulse. The emittance, energy spread, and loaded accelerating gradient for modulated electrons are then analyzed in detail. Results from simulations show that an accelerating gradient of up to 1.13 ± 0.15 GV/m with an extremely small emittance growth, 3.6%, can be expected.

A plasma accelerator research station (PARS) has been proposed to study the key issues in electron driven plasma wakefield acceleration at CLARA facility in Daresbury Laboratory. In this paper, the quasi-nonlinear regime of beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration is analysed. The wakefield excited by various CLARA beam settings are simulated by using a 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) code. For a single drive beam, an accelerating gradient up to 3 GV/m can be achieved. For a two bunch acceleration scenario, simulation shows that a witness bunch can achieve a significant energy gain in a 10–50 cm long plasma cell.

In order to overcome the limits of commonly used radiofrequency accelerators, it is highly desirable to reduce the unit cost and increase the maximum achievable accelerating gradient. Dielectric laser-driven accelerators (DLAs) based on grating structures have received considerable attention due to maximum acceleration gradients of several GV/m and mature lithographic techniques for structure fabrication. This paper explores different spatial harmonics excited by an incident laser pulse and their interaction with the electron beam from the non-relativistic (25 keV) to the highly relativistic regime in double-grating silica structures. The achievable acceleration gradient for different spatial harmonics and the optimal compromise between maximum acceleration gradient and simplicity of structure fabrication are discussed. Finally, the suitability of a multi-stage DLA which would enable the acceleration of electrons from 25 keV to relativistic energies is discussed.