Philip Burrows

Abstract:

A high-precision intra-bunch-train beam orbit feedback correction system has been developed and tested in the ATF2 beamline of the Accelerator Test Facility at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Japan. The system uses the vertical position of the bunch measured at two beam position monitors (BPMs) 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 187.6 ns, the system was optimised so as to stabilize the beam offset at the feedback BPMs to better than 350 nm, yielding a local trajectory angle correction to within 250 nrad. 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 beam jitter of c. 1 nm 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 c. 1.6.

Abstract:

A precise characterization of the incoming proton bunch parameters is required to accurately simulate the self-modulation process in the Advanced Wakefield Experiment (AWAKE). This paper presents an analysis of the parameters of the incoming proton bunches used in the later stages of the AWAKE Run 1 data-taking period. The transverse structure of the bunch is observed at multiple positions along the beamline using scintillating or optical transition radiation screens. The parameters of a model that describes the bunch transverse dimensions and divergence are fitted to represent the observed data using Bayesian inference. The analysis is tested on simulated data and then applied to the experimental data.

Abstract:

The AWAKE experiment studies the acceleration of electrons to multi-GeV levels driven by the plasma wakefield generated by an ultra-relativistic and high intensity proton bunch. The proton beam, being considerably more intense than the co-propagating electron bunch, perturbs the measurement of the electron beam position achieved via standard techniques. This contribution shows that the electrons position monitoring is possible by frequency discrimination, exploiting the large bunch length difference between the electron and proton beams. Simulations and a beam measurement hint, the measurement has to be carried out in a frequency regime of a few tens of GHz, which is far beyond the spectrum produced by the 1ns long (4 σ Gaussian) proton bunch. As operating a conventional Beam Position Monitor (BPM) in this frequency range is problematic, an innovative approach based on the emission of coherent Cherenkov Diffraction Radiation (ChDR) in dielectrics is being studied. After describing the monitor concept and design, we will report about the results achieved with a prototype system at the CERN electron facility CLEAR.