[en] We demonstrate practical accelerating gradients on a superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) accelerator cavity with cryocooler conduction cooling, a cooling technique that does not involve the complexities of the conventional liquid helium bath. A design is first presented that enables conduction cooling an elliptical-cell SRF cavity. Implementing this design, a single cell 650 MHz Nb₃Sn cavity coupled using high purity aluminum thermal links to a 4 K pulse tube cryocooler generated accelerating gradients up to 6.6 MV m⁻¹ at 100% duty cycle. The experiments were carried out with the cavity-cryocooler assembly in a simple vacuum vessel, completely free of circulating liquid cryogens. We anticipate that this cryocooling technique will make the SRF technology accessible to interested accelerator researchers who lack access to full-stack helium cryogenic systems. Furthermore, the technique can lead to SRF based compact sources of high average power electron beams for environmental protection and industrial applications. A concept of such an SRF compact accelerator is presented. (letter)

[en] Generation of TeV-scale electron beams using conventional RF technology appears expensive for building the next generation of colliders. Proton-driven plasma-wakefield acceleration of electrons promises an alternative route to generate TeV-scale electron beams using existing proton machines. PROTOPLASMA is the proposed R and D project at Fermilab that plans to use a proton beam driven plasma-wakefield to accelerate electrons. The project is planned in stages with the project's path guided by simulations. First, a 60-120 GeV proton beam will be injected into 1-2 meters of plasma to observe selfmodulation instability in the proton beam. Next, an injected 5 MeV electron beam will be accelerated by the plasma. In this paper, we report on the basic project plan and outline our staged approach. We report on first simulation results that show self-modulation of a proton bunch and discuss beam optics requirements and other limits.

[en] Here, we examine the resistance to heat flow across contacts of mechanically pressed aluminum and niobium near liquid helium temperatures for designing a thermally conducting joint of aluminum and superconducting niobium. Measurements in the temperature range of 3.5 K to 5.5 K show the thermal contact resistance to grow as a near-cubic function of decreasing temperature, indicating phonons to be the primary heat carriers across the interface. In the 4 kN to 14 kN range of pressing force the contact resistance shows linear drop with the increasing force, in agreement with the model of micro-asperity plastic deformation at pressed contacts. Several thermal contact resistance models as well as the phonon diffuse mismatch model of interface thermal resistance are compared with the experimental data. The diffuse mismatch model shows closest agreement. The joints are further augmented with thin foil of indium, which lowers the joint resistance by an order of magnitude. The developed joint has nearly 1 K*cm2/W of thermal resistance at 4.2 K, is demountable, and free of the thermally resistive interfacial alloy layer that typically exists at welded, casted, or soldered joints of dissimilar metals.

[en] Precise measurement of transverse phase space of a high-brightness electron beamis of fundamental importance in modern accelerators and free-electron lasers. Often, the transverse phase space of a high-brightness, space-charge-dominated electron beam is measured using a multi-slit method. In this method, a transverse mask (slit/pepperpot) samples the beaminto a set of beamlets, which are then analyzed on to a screen downstream. The resolution in this method is limited by the type of screen used which is typically around 20 μm for a high-sensitivity Yttrium Aluminum Garnet screen. Accurate measurement of sub-micron transverse emittance using this method would require a long drift space between the multi-slit mask and observation screen. In this paper, we explore a variation of the technique that incorporates quadrupole magnets between the multi-slit mask and the screen. It is shown that this arrangement can improve the resolution of the transverse-phase-space measurement with in a short footprint.

[en] In order to understand the charged particle dynamics, e.g. the halo formation, emittance growth, x-y energy transfer and coupling, knowledge of the actual phase space is needed. Other the past decade there is an increasing number of articles who use tomography to map the beam phase space and measure the beam emittance. These studies where performed at high energy facilities where the effect of space charge was neglible and therefore not considered in the analysis. This work extends the tomography technique to beams with space charge. In order to simplify the analysis linear forces where assumed. By carefully modeling the tomography process using the particle-in-cell code WARP we test the validity of our assumptions and the accuracy of the reconstructed phase space. Finally, we report experimental results of phase space mapping at the University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER) using tomography

[en] The University of Maryland electron ring (UMER) is a low-energy, high current recirculator for beam physics research with relevance to any applications that rely on intense beams of high quality. We review the space-charge physics issues, both in transverse and longitudinal beam dynamics, which are currently being addressed with UMER: emittance growth and halo formation, strongly asymmetric beams, Montague resonances, equipartitioning, bunch capture and shaping, etc. Furthermore, we report on recent developments in experiments, simulations, and improved diagnostics for space-charge dominated beams

[en] With ever increasing demands for intensities in modern accelerators, the understanding of space-charge effects becomes crucial. Herein are presented measurements of optically shaped picosecond-long electron beams in a superconducting L-band linac over a wide range of charges, from 0.2 nC to 3.4 nC. At low charges, the shape of the electron beam is preserved, while at higher charge densities, modulations on the beam convert to energy modulations. Here, energy profile measurements using a spectrometer and time profile measurements using a streak camera reveal the dynamics of longitudinal space-charge on MeV-scale electron beams.

[en] Tomographic phase-space mapping in an intense particle beam is reviewed. The diagnostic is extended to beams with space-charge by assuming linear forces and is implemented using either solenoidal or quadrupole focusing lattices. The technique is benchmarked against self-consistent simulation and against a direct experimental sampling of phase-space using a pinhole scan. It is demonstrated that tomography can work for time-resolved phase-space mapping and slice emittance measurement. The technique is applied to a series of proof-of-principle tests conducted at the University of Maryland.