C.X. Tang

Superconducting superstructure for the TESLA collider: A concept

We discuss a new layout of a cavity chain (called superstructure) allowing, we hope, a significant cost reduction due to a simplification of the rf system of the TESLA linear collider. The proposed scheme increases the fill factor and thus makes an effective gradient of the accelerator higher. In this paper computations and preliminary measurements on existing copper models of the TESLA Test Facility accelerating structures are presented. A new copper model of the scheme has been ordered, made of four 7-cell standing wave cavities, which according to the results of computations and measurements seems to be the most promising version. Experiments with a beam will be necessary to prove that the proposed layout can be used for the acceleration.

Suppression of high-power microwave dielectric multipactor by resonant magnetic field

Through dynamic calculation and electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulation, high-power microwave dielectric multipactor is discovered to be suppressed by utilizing external dc magnetic field parallel to the surface, perpendicular to the rf field and satisfying the gyrofrequency close to the rf frequency Ω∼ω. It is found that multipactor electrons emitted from the surface can be resonantly accelerated to obtain the impact energy ee higher than the second crossover energy, leading to secondary emission yield lower than one. Besides, the corresponding flight time gets close to the rf period, also the period of the vector Erf×B, resulting in secondary electrons immediately pulled away without multipactoring along the surface. What is more, with the rf field increasing, suppression effect can be further enhanced due to ee rising.

Single and repetitive short-pulse high-power microwave window breakdown

The mechanisms of high-power microwave breakdown for single and repetitive short pulses are analyzed. By calculation, multipactor saturation with electron density much higher than the critical plasma density is found not to result in microwave cutoff. It is local high pressure about Torr class that rapid plasma avalanche and final breakdown are realized in a 10–20 ns short pulse. It is found by calculation that the power deposited by saturated multipactor and the rf loss of protrusions are sufficient to induce vaporizing surface material and enhancing the ambient pressure in a single short pulse. For repetitive pulses, the accumulation of heat and plasma may respectively carbonize the surface material and lower the repetitive breakdown threshold.

Surface photoemission in a high-brightness electron beam radio frequency gun

We report the experimental characterization of high-brightness electron beam generation from a magnesium (Mg) photocathode. Both the quantum efficiency (QE) and the thermal emittance of an Mg cathode are experimentally investigated. The measured QE∼0.2% is the highest reported for a metal cathode. We observed no change in the Mg cathode thermal emittance as the QE varies from 0.015% to 0.15%. The upper-limit of the thermal emittance, 0.5 mm mrad, is about 50% lower than the theoretical prediction. Our results demonstrated the feasibility of having a high QE and a low thermal emittance simultaneously for a robust metal photocathode.

Multimode combined intense laser-induced electron acceleration and violent bunch compression

The ponderomotive potential structure of a multimode combined intense laser beam is studied. Using a three-dimensional test particle simulation, the interaction of slow electrons with the combined laser beam in vacuum is investigated. The calculation shows that electrons distributed on a large scale can be accelerated to relativistic energy in vacuum. A violent longitudinal bunch compression phenomenon is also presented and discussed.

Field structure and electron acceleration in a laser beam of a high-order Hermite-Gaussian mode

We analyze the axial electric field intensity distribution and the phase velocity distribution of high-order Hermite-Gaussian (HG) mode laser beams. Using a three-dimensional test particle simulation, the numerical results of electrons accelerated by Hermite-Gaussian (0,0), and (3,0) mode laser beams are presented. It is established that electrons can be more favorably captured and accelerated in an odd high-order Hermite-Gaussian mode laser beam.

Phase motion of accelerated electrons in vacuum laser acceleration

The phase stability in the capture and acceleration scenario (CAS) is studied and compared with that of conventional linear electron accelerators (CLEAs). For the CAS case, it has been found that a slow phase slippage occurs due to the difference between the electron velocity and the phase velocity of the longitudinal accelerating electric field. Thus, CAS electrons cannot remain in a fixed small phase region of the accelerating field to obtain a quasimonoenergy gain in contrast to the stability of phase oscillation in CLEAs. Also, the energy spread of the output electron beam for the CAS case cannot be kept as small as the CLEA because there is no good phase bunching phenomenon generated by phase oscillation.

Characteristics of multimode combined intense laser-induced electron acceleration and violent bunch compression

The interaction of low energy electrons with multimode combined intense laser beams in vacuum was studied by using three-dimensional test particle simulation. The process of interaction and the ponderomotive potential structures of some multimode combined intense laser beams are analyzed in detail. This article presents the detailed characteristics of the multimode combined intense laser-induced electron acceleration and violent bunch compression [Wang et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 82, 2752 (2003)]. The properties of the output electron bunch are also investigated.

Generating ultrabroadband terahertz radiation based on the under-compression mode of velocity bunching

We propose and analyze a scheme to generate enhanced ultrabroadband terahertz (THz) radiation through coherent transition radiation emitted by ultrashort electron beams based on a 10.5 m beamline at Tsinghua University. The proposed scheme involves the initial compression of the electron beam with a few hundred pC charges using a velocity bunching scheme (i.e., RF compression) in an under-compression mode instead of the usual critical-compression mode in order to maintain a positive energy chirp at the exit of the traveling wave accelerator. After a long drift segment, the particles in the tail catch up with the bunch head. More than 80% of the particles are distributed in a spike with an rms length less than 20 fs. Such beams correspond to an ultrabroadband coherent transition radiation (CTR) spectrum of 0.1 THz to 25 THz, with the single-pulse THz radiation energy of up to 50 μJ. The principle of CTR and under-compression mode of velocity bunching are introduced in this paper. And the ASTRA simulation parameters and the stability of the system are also discussed.

Generating 10-40 MeV high quality monoenergetic electron beams using a 5 TW 60 fs laser at Tsinghua University

A unique facility for laser plasma physics and advanced accelerator research has been built recently at Tsinghua Universtiy. This system is based on Tsinghua Thomson scattering X-ray source (TTX), which combining an ultrafast TW laser with a synchronized 45MeV high brightness linac. In our recent laser wakefield acceleration experiments, we have obtained 10~40MeV high quality monoenergetic electron beams by running the laser at 5TW peak power. Under certain conditions, very low relative energy spread of a few percent can be achieved. Absolute charge calibration for three different scintillating screens has also been performed using the linac system.