DOE OSTI2011
In this paper, two possible bunch compression configurations are proposed and evaluated by numerical simulation in the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA) at SLAC. A bunch compression ratio up to 20 could be achieved under a perfect condition, without consideration for the timing jitter and other error sources. The NLCTA is a test accelerator built at SLAC, which is approximately 42 meters long and composed of X-band acceleration structures. The main aim of building NLCTA is to develop and demonstrate the X-band rf acceleration technologies for the next generation linear collider, with a relatively high acceleration gradient between 50 MV/m and 100 MV/m. The current operation configuration of NLCTA features a thermionic-cathode electron gun at its starting point which generates an electron beam with an energy of 5 MeV. This is followed by a roughly 1.5 meter long X-band acceleration structure which boosts the electron beam energy to 60 MeV. Then there is a four-dipole magnetic chicane which is 6 meters long and provides a first order longitudinal dispersion of R{sub 56} = -73mm. Next the electron beam passes by several matching quadrupoles and can be accelerated further to 120 MeV through another one-meter-long X-band acceleration structure. After that, there are three small chicanes downstream, with a total first order longitudinal dispersion of R{sub 56} = -10mm. A sketch of the main components of NLCTA is shown in Figure 1, where the total length of this accelerator is 45 meters. Free Electron Lasers (FELs), proposed by J. Madey and demonstrated for the first time at Stanford University in 1970s [2] [3], use the lasing of relativistic electron beam traveling through a magnetic undulator, which can reach high power and can be widely tunable in wavelength. Linac based FEL source can provide sufficient brightness, and a short X-ray wavelength down to angstrom scale, which promises in supporting wide range of research experiments. In order to have an electron beam lasing coherently in an undulator, one needs a very bright beam in all three dimensions. In other words, one needs an electron beam with very short bunch length (high intensity), very small transverse emittance and very small energy spread. Most FELs currently being operated, commissioned, constructed or proposed are based on RF acceleration in a frequency range from L-band ( 1 GHz) to C-band ( 6 GHz). As RF frequency goes higher, wake fields effects tend to be much stronger and jitter tolerances are tighter. To demonstrate that X-band acceleration structures can be applied in constructing an FEL, one could perform bunch compression experiments at NLCTA as a first step, and investigate tolerances on timing jitter, misalignments etc.. Another important point is to evaluate the transverse emittance growth in this bunch compression process. In the following sections, two possible bunch compression schemes are proposed to be tested at NLCTA. Elegant [4] 3-D simulation is performed to evaluate these two schemes, with wake fields, space charge and coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) effects included. One million macro particles are adopted in the numerical simulations. The simulation starts with an electron beam of 20 pC at a beam energy of 5 MeV. The initial RMS bunch length is taken as 0.5 ps at such a low bunch charge, and the RMS energy spread is 5 x 10{sup -3}. The normalized transverse emittance is 1 mm.mrad.
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗