Philip Burrows

Abstract:

We present numerical simulations and experimental results of the self-modulation of a long proton bunch in a plasma with linear density gradients along the beam path. Simulation results agree with the experimental results reported [F. Braunmller, T. Nechaeva et al. (AWAKE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 264801 (2020)]: with negative gradients, the charge of the modulated bunch is lower than with positive gradients. In addition, the bunch modulation frequency varies with gradient. Simulation results show that dephasing of the wakefields with respect to the relativistic protons along the plasma is the main cause for the loss of charge. The study of the modulation frequency reveals details about the evolution of the self-modulation process along the plasma. In particular for negative gradients, the modulation frequency across time-resolved images of the bunch indicates the position along the plasma where protons leave the wakefields. Simulations and experimental results are in excellent agreement.

Abstract:

The CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research (CLEAR) at CERN has been operating since 2017 as a dedicated user facility providing beams for a varied range of experiments. CLEAR consists of a 20 m long linear accelerator (linac), able to produce beams from a Cs₂Te photocathode and accelerate them to energies of between 60 MeV and 220 MeV. Following the linac, an experimental beamline is located, in which irradiation tests, wakefield and impedances tudies, plasma lens experiments, beam diagnostics development, and terahertz (THz) emission studies, are performed. In this paper, we present recent upgrades to the entire beamline, as well as the design of future upgrades, such as a dogleg section connecting to an additional proposed experimental beamline. The gain in performance due to these upgrades is presented with a full range of available beam properties documented.

Abstract:

A low-latency, bunch-by-bunch feedback system employing high-resolution cavity Beam Position Monitors (BPMs) has been developed and tested at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF2) at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan. The feedback system was designed to demonstrate nanometer-level vertical stabilization at the focal point of the ATF2 and can be operated using either a single BPM to provide local beam stabilization, or by using two BPMs to stabilize the beam at an intermediate location. The feedback correction is implemented using a stripline kicker and the feedback calculations are performed on a digital board constructed around a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The feedback performance was tested with trains of two bunches, separated by 280ns, at a charge of ~1nC, where the vertical offset of the first bunch was measured and used to calculate the correction to be applied to the second bunch. The BPMs have been demonstrated to achieve an operational resolution of ~20nm. With the application of single-BPM and two-BPM feedback, beam stabilization of below 50nm and 41nm respectively has been achieved with a latency of 232ns.

Abstract:

A high-precision intra-bunch-train beam orbit feedback correction system has been developed and tested at the KEK Accelerator Test Facility, ATF2. The system uses the vertical position of the bunch measured at two beam position monitors to calculate a pair of kicks which are applied to the next bunch using two upstream kickers, thereby correcting both the vertical position and trajectory angle. Using trains of two electron bunches separated in time by 187.6ns, the system was optimised so as to stabilize the beam offset at the feedback BPMs to better than 350nm, yielding a local trajectory angle correction to within 250nrad. The quality of the correction was verified using three downstream witness BPMs and the results were found to be in agreement with the predictions of a linear lattice model used to propagate the beam trajectory from the feedback region. This same model predicts a corrected be am jitter of c.1nm at the focal point of the accelerator. Measurements with a beam size monitor at this location demonstrate that reducing the trajectory jitter of the beam by a factor of 4 also reduces the increase in the measured beam size as a function of beam charge by a factor of ~1.6.