SLAC, Menlo Park, California, USA
INFN/LNF, Frascati (Roma), Italy
As part of research on the physics of rf breakdowns we performed experiments with high gradient traveling-wave mm-wave accelerating structures. The accelerating structures are open, composed of two identical halves separated by an adjustable gap. The electromagnetic fields are excited by an ultra-relativistic electron beam. We observed that a confined travelling-wave mode exists in half of the accelerating structure. The experiments were conducted at FACET facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Depending on the gap width, the accelerating structure had beam-synchronous frequencies that vary from 90 to 140 GHz. When we opened the gap by more than half wavelength the synchronous wave remains trapped. Its behavior is consistent with the so called "surface wave". We characterized this beam-wave interaction by several methods: measurement of the radiated rf energy with the pyro-detector, measurement of the spectrum with an interferometer, measurement of the beam deflection by using the beam position monitors and profile monitor.
SLAC, Menlo Park, California, USA
University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA
LOA, Palaiseau, France
TUB, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Over the past decade, there has been enormous progress in the field of beam and laser-driven plasma acceleration of electron beams. However, in order for plasma wakefield acceleration to be useful for a high-energy e+e- collider, we need a technique for accelerating positrons in plasma as well. This is a unique challenge, because the plasma responds differently to electron and positron beams, with plasma electrons being pulled through the positron beam and creating a non-linear focusing force. Here, we demonstrate a technique called hollow channel acceleration that symmetrizes the wakefield response to beams of either charge. Using a transversely shaped laser pulse, we create an annular plasma with a fixed radius of 200 μm. We observe the acceleration of a positron bunch with energies up to 33.4 MeV in a 25 cm long channel, indicating an effective gradient greater than 100 MeV/m. This is the first demonstration of a technique that way be used for staged acceleration of positron beams in plasma.
