[en] The use of electron beam accelerators in advanced X-ray radiography requires that the beam be focused to a very small spot size on a metallic bremsstrahlung converter target. The energy deposition of the beam into a small volume of target material rapidly converts the target into a high-density plasma. The space-charge density of the focused beam sets up a strong electric field at the surface of the grounded target, which then accelerates ions of target plasma and lighter contaminants into the beam. These backstreaming ions form a long channel which partially neutralizes the space charge of the beam, disrupting the beam focus and degrading the radiographic performance. One solution to this problem is to confine the backstreaming ions in a short channel with a self-biased inductive trap. Such a trap has been proposed for testing on the ETA-II accelerator. They present numerical simulations which show the effect of the high trapped-ion charge density on the beam spot size and emittance

[en] A time dependent x-ray spot size measurement is critical to understanding beam target physics such as target plasma generated beam instabilities. The so-called roll bar measurement uses a heavy metal material which is optically thick to X-rays, to form a 1D shadow of the x-ray origination spot. This spot is where an energetic electron beam interacts with a high Z target to produce the x-rays. The material (the roll bar) has a slight radius to avoid alignment problems. If a beam profile is assumed (or measured by other means), the equivalent x-ray spot size can be calculated from the x-ray shadow cast by the roll bar. Typically a radiographic film is exposed over the duration of the beam pulse, and the shadow is analyzed for a time integrated measurement. This paper explores various techniques to convert the x-rays to visible photons which can be imaged using a gated camera or streak camera for time evolved x-ray spot size. Data will be presented from the measurements on the ETA II induction linac

[en] Experiments to study beam dynamics for Relativistic Klystrons (RK) are being performed with a 1-MeV, 600-A induction accelerator beam. The RK is a RF Power source based on induction accelerator technology and conventional resonant output structures. Capable of generating 100's of MW/m at frequencies up to K-band, the RK has been proposed as a driver for a future linear collider in one version of a Two-Beam Accelerator. A critical feasibility issue remaining to be demonstrated is suppression of the transverse instability of the drive beam. This kiloampere beam must transit about a hundred resonance output structures and many hundreds of induction accelerator cavities for the RK to achieve competitive efficiency and cost with respect to other proposed power sources. The RK's strong focusing used to contain the beam in the small aperture resonant structures, repetitive geometry, and reacceleration allow the resonant output structures to be spaced at a betatron phase advance of 360^o. This phase advance (or any integral multiple of 180^o) is beneficial in linear accelerators as the instability growth changes from exponential to linear. In our experiment the beam is contained in a solenoidal focusing channel, RF cavities are spaced every 60 cm, and growth in the transverse motion is measured as a function of phase advance. Details of the experiments and results are presented

[en] This document summarizes the Flash X-Ray accelerator (FXR) optical transition radiation (OTR) spot-size diagnostics efforts in FY07. During this year, new analysis, simulation, and experimental approaches were utilized to interpret OTR spot data from both dielectric foils such as Kapton (VN type) and metal coated foils. Significant new findings of the intricacies involved in the diagnostic and of FXR operational issues were achieved. Geometry and temperature based effects were found to affect the beam image profiles from the OTR foils. These effects must be taken into account in order to deduce accurately the beam current density profile

[en] Knowing the electron beam parameters at the exit of an accelerator is critical for several reasons. Foremost is to optimize the application of the beam, which is flash radiography in the case of the FXR accelerator. The beam parameters not only determine the theoretical dose, x-ray spectrum, and radiograph resolution (spot size), they are required to calculate the final transport magnetic fields that focus the beam on the bremsstrahlung converter to achieve the theoretical limits. Equally important is the comparison of beam parameters to the design specifications. This comparison indicates the ''health'' of the accelerator, warning the operator when systems are deteriorating or failing. For an accelerator of the size and complexity of FXR, a large suite of diagnostics is normally employed to measure and/or infer beam parameters. These diagnostics are distributed throughout the accelerator and can require a large number of ''shots'' (measurements) to calculate a specific beam parameter. The OTR Emittance Diagnostic, however, has the potential to measure all but one of the beam parameters simultaneous at a specific location. Using measurements from a scan of a few shots, this final parameter can also be determined. Since first deployment, the OTR Emittance Diagnostic has been limited to measuring only one of the seven desired parameters, the beam's divergence. This report describes recent upgrades to the diagnostic that permit full realization of its potential

[en] The authors recently demonstrated the reacceleration of a bunched beam through an induction accelerator cell in support of the two-beam accelerator concept. They present the results of this experiment including amplitude and phase measurements of the extracted microwave power at 11.424 GHz. They also describe progress in achieving a two-beam accelerator microwave source design that is efficient and cost effective for linear collider applications

[en] A critical issue for a Two-Beam accelerator based upon extended relativistic klystrons is controlling the cumulative dipole instability growth We describe a theoretical scheme to reduce the growth from an exponential to a more manageable linear rate, and a new experiment to test this concept. The experiment utilizes a 1-MeV, 600-Amp, 200-ns electron beam and a short beamline of periodically spaced RF dipole pillbox cavities and solenoid magnets for transport. Descriptions of the RTA injector and the planned beamline are presented, followed by theoretical studies of the beam transport and dipole mode growth

[en] The next generation of radiographic machines based on induction accelerators is expected to generate multiple, small diameter x-ray spots of high intensity. Experiments to study the interaction of the electron beam with the x-ray converter are being performed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) using the 6-MeV, 2-kA Experimental Test Accelerator (ETA) electron beam. The physics issues of greatest concern can be separated into two categories. The multiple pulse issue involves the interaction of subsequent beam pulses with the expanding plasma plume generated by earlier pulses striking the x-ray converter. The plume expands at several millimeters per microsecond and defines the minimum transverse spacing of the pulses. The single pulse issue is more subtle and involves the extraction of light ions by the head of the beam pulse. These light ions might propagate at velocities of several millimeters per nanosecond through the body of the incoming pulse resulting in a moving focus prior to the converter. In this paper we describe Faraday cup measurements performed to quantify the plasma plume expansion and velocities of light ions

[en] An anode stalk support insulator in a magnetically insulated transmission line was designed and modeled. One of the important design criteria is that within space constraints, the electric field along the insulator surface has to be minimized in order to prevent a surface flashover. In order to further reduce the field on the insulator surface, metal rings between insulator layers were also specially shaped. To facilitate the design process, electric field simulations were performed to determine the maximum field stress on the insulator surfaces and the transmission line chamber

[en] Traditionally, thin metal foils are employed for optical transition radiation (OTR) beam diagnostics but the possibility of shorting accelerator insulating surfaces and modifying accelerating fields are concerns. The successful utilization of dielectric foils in place of metal ones could alleviate these issues but necessitates more understanding of the OTR data for inferring desired beam parameters because of the dielectric's finite permittivity. Additionally, the temperature dependence of the relevant foil parameters due to beam heating should be accounted for. Here, we present and discuss sample synthetic diagnostic results of Kapton OTR spot-size measurements from the Flash X-Ray (FXR) accelerator which studies these and sightline effects. These simulations show that in some cases, the observed spot-sizes and radii are noticeably larger than the beam radii