van der Sb Bas Geer

Radiation sources based on laser-plasma interactions

Plasma waves excited by intense laser beams can be harnessed to produce femtosecond duration bunches of electrons with relativistic energies. The very large electrostatic forces of plasma density wakes trailing behind an intense laser pulse provide field potentials capable of accelerating charged particles to high energies over very short distances, as high as 1 GeV in a few millimetres. The short length scale of plasma waves provides a means of developing very compact high-energy accelerators, which could form the basis of compact next-generation light sources with unique properties. Tuneable X-ray radiation and particle pulses with durations of the order of or less than 5 fs should be possible and would be useful for probing matter on unprecedented time and spatial scales. If developed to fruition this revolutionary technology could reduce the size and cost of light sources by three orders of magnitude and, therefore, provide powerful new tools to a large scientific community. We will discuss how a laser-driven plasma wakefield accelerator can be used to produce radiation with unique characteristics over a very large spectral range.

Multigrid algorithms for the fast calculation of space-charge effects in accelerator design

Numerical prediction of charged particle dynamics in accelerators is essential for the design and understanding of these machines. Methods to calculate the self-fields of the bunch, the so-called space-charge forces, become increasingly important as the demand for high-quality bunches increases. We report on our development of a new three-dimensional (3-D) space-charge routine in the general particle tracer (GPT) code. It scales linearly with the number of particles in terms of CPU time, allowing over a million particles to be tracked on a normal PC. The model is based on a nonequidistant multigrid Poisson solver that has been constructed to solve the electrostatic fields in the rest frame of the bunch on meshes with large aspect ratio. Theoretical and numerical investigations of the behavior of SOR relaxation and PCG method on nonequidistant grids emphasize the advantages of the multigrid algorithm with adaptive coarsening. Numerical investigations have been performed with a wide range of cylindrically shaped bunches (from very long to very short) occuring in recent applications. The application to the simulation of the TU/e DC/RF gun demonstrates the power of the new 3-D routine.

Performance predictions of a focused ion beam from a laser cooled and compressed atomic beam

Focused ion beams are indispensable tools in the semiconductor industry because of their ability to image and modify structures at the nanometer length scale. Here we report on performance predictions of a new type of focused ion beam based on photo-ionization of a laser cooled and compressed atomic beam. Particle tracing simulations are performed to investigate the effects of disorder-induced heating after ionization in a large electric field. They lead to a constraint on this electric field strength which is used as input for an analytical model which predicts the minimum attainable spot size as a function of amongst others the flux density of the atomic beam, the temperature of this beam and the total current. At low currents (I<10 pA) the spot size will be limited by a combination of spherical aberration and brightness, while at higher currents this is a combination of chromatic aberration and brightness. It is expected that a nanometer size spot is possible at a current of 1 pA. The analytical model was verified with particle tracing simulations of a complete focused ion beam setup. A genetic algorithm was used to find the optimum acceleration electric field as a function of the current. At low currents the result agrees well with the analytical model while at higher currents the spot sizes found are even lower due to effects that are not taken into account in the analytical model.

Electrodynamic simulations of a photoconductively switched high voltage spark gap

We present a full three-dimensional electrodynamic model to simulate a photoconductively switched high voltage spark gap. This model describes the electromagnetic field-propagation in a coaxial spark gap set-up, which determines the rise time of the switched pulse and reveals the influence of discontinuities, such as view ports, on the pulse shape and the rise time. Existing inductive lumped element and transmission line models, used to model laser-triggered spark gaps, are compared with our electrodynamic model. The rise time of the switched pulses in the different models does not differ significantly. In the electrodynamic simulation, a curvature of the electric field wave front is visible, resulting from the presence of non-TEM modes near the gap. Furthermore, oscillations on the output signal are revealed. These oscillations are caused by internal reflections on the inner and outer conductors. Our electrodynamic model is able to visualize the rise time evolution by monitoring the electric field-propagation in the gap region. The presence of view ports in the set-up increases the rise time at the output significantly and induces, owing to internal reflections, extra oscillations in the signal.

Front-to-end simulations of the design of a laser wakefield accelerator with external injection

We report the design of a laser wakefield accelerator (LWA) with external injection by a rf photogun and acceleration by a linear wakefield in a capillary discharge channel. The design process is complex due to the large number of intricately coupled free parameters. To alleviate this problem, we performed front-to-end simulations of the complete system. The tool we used was the general particle-tracking code, extended with a module representing the linear wakefield by a two-dimensional traveling wave with appropriate wavelength and amplitude. Given the limitations of existing technology for the longest discharge plasma wavelength (∼50μm) and shortest electron bunch length (∼100μm), we studied the regime in which the wakefield acts as slicer and buncher, while rejecting a large fraction of the injected bunch. The optimized parameters for the injected bunch are 10pC, 300fs at 6.7MeV, to be injected into a 70mm long channel at a plasma density of 7×1023m−3. A linear wakefield is generated by a 2TW laser foc...

Spark gap optimization by electrodynamic simulations

When switching times are no longer dominated by the plasma formation time, such as for photoconductive switching of high-voltage spark gaps, electrodynamic details of the switching process determine the rise time and pulse shape of the switched pulse. We show that the commonly used zero-dimensional lumped element and one-dimensional transmission line theory are no longer sufficient for optimizing such fast-switching devices, because important electromagnetic-field propagation in three dimensions is neglected. In order to improve the output of the photoconductively switched spark gap, we developed an optimization procedure for spark gap geometries based on full three-dimensional electrodynamic simulations. By monitoring the electromagnetic-field propagation in time, it will be shown that the initial electromagnetic-field disturbance in the gap reflects at the outer conductor and interferes with the initial field. The reflection and interference are essential for the shape of the output signal. We propose the following optimization procedure to improve the output of the photoconductively switched coaxial spark gap. Initially, the reflection and interference can be influenced by reshaping the inner conductor. The outer conductor can be used to fine-tune the system to get an output pulse with a sharp rising edge and no significant oscillations. We also present the optimal spark gap geometry that gives the best output signal at photoconductive switching.

Electron beam simulations of a multi-stage depressed collector, including secondary and scattered electrons

The Fusion FEM is the prototype of a high power, rapid-tunable mm-wave source, operating in the range 130-260 GHz (Urbanus, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 375 (1996) 401) [1]. The device is driven by a 2 MeV, 12 A DC electron beam. A decelerator and depressed collector will be mounted behind the mm-wave cavity, for energy recovery of the unspent electron beam. This way the device will have a high system efficiency of over 50%. The unspent beam has a high-energy spread due to the FEM interaction. We report on the design of the depressed collector and on the beam transport system from the decelerator into the collector. The current streaming back has to be below 0.1%, Secondary electrons with low energy have little influence. Much attention had to be paid to prevent scattered electrons with high energies from streaming back. Two design solutions will be presented, one completely cylindrical symmetric and one with an a-symmetric bending scheme

Parameter study of acceleration of externally injected electrons in the linear laser wakefield regime

A parameter study for laser wakefield acceleration is presented, in which externally injected electrons are accelerated in low amplitude plasma waves, represented by an analytical two-dimensional description. Results have been obtained for plasma densities up to 2.6×1024m−3, plasma lengths up to 300mm, laser intensities up to 3.5×1021W∕m2, and injection of Gaussian model bunches at energies up to 12MeV. For the range of parameters studied, effects of laser depletion and the influence of the electron bunch on the plasma can be ignored. In the parameter space, a region is identified where final energies of over 100MeV are reached, at an energy spread of less than 5% and a rms emittance of a few micrometers.

Revision of (sub)nanosecond pulser for IRI Van de Graaff electron accelerator aided by field propagation calculations

The shorted air line stub used for subnanosecond pulsing of the grounded-grid cathode gun structure of the IRI 3MV Van de Graaff electron accelerator is revised. Three-dimensional high-frequency field propagation calculations provide better insight into the performance of different geometrical shapes. Effects on rise- and decay time, and ringing on the output pulses are considered. Practical possibilities for improvement are discussed. Comparison with sampling measurements on several device modifications confirms the reliability of the calculations. The calculation method is subsequently used as design aid for the construction of a “1ns” device using a quartz loaded shorted stub to fit into the geometry of the existing variable pulse length unit. Capabilities for short pulsing of the accelerator are improved and extended by application of the results obtained.

A 3D particle tracking technique for FEL start-up and saturation effects

Self-consistent simulation of a LINAC-driven FEL by time-domain particle tracking can give very detailed results on both the produced radiation and the evolution of the electron bunch. We show that when special subsets are tracked, instead of individual macro-particles, only a few of these subsets are required to obtain converging results. The subsets used are short longitudinal arrays of macro-particles, of the order of a few ponderomotive waves, distributed longitudinally in such a way that they are almost only sensitive to stimulated emission. This new approach has been carried out with the 3D General Particle Tracer code and a set of axisymmetric Gaussian waves propagating in free space. Due to the first-principles approach, it can be used for a variety of radiation problems, including studies of FEL start-up and saturation effects. The model and two applications will be presented.