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Dielectric wakefield acceleration is a promising concept for increasing the accelerating gradient above the limits of conventional accelerators. Although superior gradients are reported in short dielectric wakefield accelerator tubes, problems arise when it comes to efficiency and multi-meter long interaction lengths. Here we discuss possible issues and provide some solutions backed by simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We designed an experiment to conduct a detailed investigation of the higher order mode spectrum in a roomtemperature traveling-wave photonic band gap (PBG) accelerating structure at 11.7 GHz. It has been long recognized that PBG structures have great potential in reducing long-range wakefields in accelerators. The first ever demonstration of acceleration in room-temperature PBG structures was conducted at MIT in 2005. Since then, the importance of that device has been recognized by many research institutions. However, the full experimental characterization of the wakefield spectrum in a beam test has not been performed to date. The Argonne Wakefield Accelerator (AWA) test facility at the Argonne National Laboratory represents a perfect site where this evaluation could be conducted with a single high charge electron bunch and with a train of bunches. The PBG structure was built and consists of sixteen 2π/3 traveling-wave cells, including two coupler cells. In this paper we will describe fabrication and tuning of the PBG cells, and the results of the final cold-test of the traveling-wave accelerating structure. Next we will discuss the plan for the wakefield experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a conceptual proposal to combine the Dielectric Wakefield Accelerator (DWA) with the Emittance Exchanger (EEX) to demonstrate a high-brightness DWA with a gradient of above 100 MV/m and less than 0.1% induced energy spread in the accelerated beam. We currently evaluate the DWA concept as a performance upgrade for the future LANL signature facility MaRIE with the goal of significantly reducing the electron beam energy spread. The preconceptual design for MaRIE is underway at LANL, with the design of the electron linear accelerator being one of the main research goals. Although generally the baseline design needs to be conservative and rely on existing technology, any future upgrade would immediately call for looking into the advanced accelerator concepts capable of boosting the electron beam energy up by a few GeV in a very short distance without degrading the beam's quality. Scoping studies have identified large induced energy spreads as the major cause of beam quality degradation in high-gradient advanced accelerators for free-electron lasers. We describe simulations demonstrating that trapezoidal bunch shapes can be used in a DWA to greatly reduce the induced beam energy spread, and, in doing so, also preserve the beam brightness at levels never previously achieved. This concept has the potential to advance DWA technology to a level that would make it suitable for the upgrades of the proposed Los Alamos MaRIE signature facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the problem of incorporating a Photonic Band Gap (PBG) cell into a superconducting accelerating module of 5 cells designed for the operational frequency of 2.1 GHz. The reason for using a PBG cell is to provide a good accelerating mode confinement and good Higher Order Mode (HOM) suppression. PBG cell can potentially be used for placing HOM and fundamental mode couplers. However, because of the naturally higher ratio of the peak magnetic field to the accelerating field in the PBG cell, it should be designed to operate at a lower accelerating gradient than the other cells of the module. This ensures that the probability of quench in the PBG cell would be no higher than in other elliptical cells of the structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]