Daniel Bowring

Vacuum RF Breakdown of Accelerating Cavities in Multi-Tesla Magnetic Fields

Ionization cooling of intense muon beams requires the operation of high-gradient, normal-conducting RF structures within multi-Tesla magnetic fields. The application of strong magnetic fields has been shown to lead to an increase in vacuum RF breakdown. This phenomenon imposes operational (i.e. gradient) limitations on cavities in ionization cooling channels, and has a bearing on the design and operation of other RF structures as well, such as photocathodes and klystrons. We present recent results from Fermilab’s MuCool Test Area (MTA), in which 201 and 805 MHz cavities were operated at high power both with and without the presence of multi-Tesla magnetic fields.

RF optimization and analysis of the 805-MHz cavity for the MuCool program using ACE3P

An 805 MHz pillbox cavity tested at Fermilabs MTA facility showed significant degradation in gradient when operated in a several Tesla solenoidal magnetic field. We have used the advanced ACE3P simulation codes developed at SLAC to study the cavity dark current and multipacting characteristics to gain more insight into the gradient limitations. We also checked whether there is an optimal cavity length that minimizes the dark current impact energy. Finally, we have improved on the cavity design, significantly lowering the fields outside the beam area. These and other results are presented in this paper.