Bruce Eric Carlsten

We describe the upgrades to diagnostic capabilities on the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) electron linear accelerator that will allow investigations of the effects of high-order modes (HOMs) in SCRF cavities on macropulse-average beam quality. We focus here on the dipole modes in the first pass-band generally observed in the 1.6-1.9 GHz regime in TESLA-type SCRF cavities due to uniform transverse beam offsets of the electron beam. Such cavities are the basis of the accelerator for the European XFEL and the proposed MaRIE XFEL facility. Initial HOM data indicate that the mode intensities oscillate for about 10 microseconds after the micropulse enters the cavity, resulting in centroid shifts throughout the train. This results in a blurring of the averaged beam image size. The upgrades will include optimizing the HOM detectors' bandpass filters and adding a 1.3-GHz notch filter, converting the BPM electronics to bunch-by-bunch processing, and using the C5680 streak camera in a framing mode for bunch-by-bunch spatial information at the <20-micron level. The preliminary HOM detector data, prototype BPM test data, and first framing camera OTR data will be presented.

Long-range wakefields in superconducting RF (SCRF) cavities create complicated effects on beam dynamics in SCRF-based FEL beamlines. The driving bunch excites effectively an infinite number of structure modes (including HOMs) which oscillate within the SCRF cavity. Couplers with loads are used to damp the HOMs. However, these HOMs can persist for long periods of time in superconducting structures, which leads to long-range wakefields. Clear understanding of the long-range wakefield effects is a critical element for risk mitigation of future SCRF accelerators such as XFEL at DESY, LCLS-II XFEL, and MaRIE XFEL. We are currently developing numerical tools for simulating long-range wakefields in SCRF accelerators and plan to experimentally verify the tools by measuring these wakefields at the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) facility. This paper previews the experimental conditions at the FAST 50 MeV beamline based on the simulation results.

We present the design of a field-emission X-band gun designed to be powered using a solid-state RF source. The source of the electron beam is a field emission nano-tip array. The RF gun is intended to be a beam source for 1 MeV solid-state driven linac for deployment on a satellite to map magnetic fields in the magnetosphere. The gun has to satisfy strict requirements on both average and peak power consumption, as well as rapid turn on time. In order to achieve low power consumption, the RF gun operates at relatively low accelerating gradient of 2 MeV/m. The beam exit energy is ~20 keV for an RF power 1.5 kW. Each cell of the RF gun is separately powered by commercially available, GaN high electron mobility transistors. In proof of principle experiments we successfully powered a 9.3 GHz accelerating cavity with a 100 W transistor and a 1% duty cycle.

The Matter-Radiation Interactions in Extremes (MaRIE) facility is intended to probe and control the time-dependent properties of materials under extreme conditions. At its core, the “MaRIE 1.0” X-FEL is being designed to deliver pulse trains of ~10¹⁰ 42 keV photons, with a minimum bunch spacing of 2.4 ns, enabling time-dependent studies particularly of mesoscale phenomena. The X-FEL accelerator is also intended to deliver a series of 2 nC electron bunches to enable electron radiography concurrently with the X-ray pulse train, so as to provide multi-probe capability to MaRIE. In 2014, the reference design for the MaRIE X-FEL 12 GeV driver linac was changed from an S-band normal-conducting to an L-band superconducting linac to accommodate pulse trains up to 100 μs in duration. This paper does not present a complete solution for the MaRIE linac design; rather it describes our current reference design, achieved parameters, areas of concern and paths towards mitigation of identified issues.