arXiv subjects

P. H. Williams

Publications and source records attributed to P. H. Williams.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Beam Breakup Instability Studies of Powerful Energy Recovery Linac for Experiments

The maximum achievable beam current in an Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) is often constrained by Beam Breakup (BBU) instability. Our previous research highlighted that filling patterns have a substantial impact on BBU instabilities in multi-pass ERLs. In this study, we extend our investigation to the 8-cavity model of the Powerful ERL for Experiment (PERLE). We evaluate its requirements for damping cavity Higher Order Modes (HOMs) and propose optimal filling patterns and bunch timing strategies. Our findings reveal a significant new insight: while filling patterns are crucial, the timing of bunches also plays a critical role in mitigating HOM beam loading and BBU instability. This previously underestimated factor is essential for effective BBU control. We estimated the PERLE threshold current using both analytical and numerical models, incorporating the designed PERLE HOM dampers. During manufacturing, HOM frequencies are expected to vary slightly, with an assumed RMS frequency jitter of 0.001 between cavities for the same HOM. Introducing this jitter into our models, we found that the dampers effectively suppressed BBU instability, achieving a threshold current an order of magnitude higher than the design requirement. Our results offer new insights into ERL BBU beam dynamics and have important implications for the design of future ERLs.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2023

Specification and design for Full Energy Beam Exploitation of the Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications

The Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications (CLARA) is a 250 MeV ultrabright electron beam test facility at STFC Daresbury Laboratory. A user beam line has been designed to maximise exploitation of CLARA in a variety of fields, including novel acceleration and new modalities of radiotherapy. In this paper we present the specification and design of this beam line for Full Energy Beam Exploitation (FEBE). We outline the key elements which provide users to access ultrashort, low emittance electron bunches in two large experiment chambers. The results of start-to-end simulations are reported which verify the expected beam parameters delivered to these chambers. Key technical systems are detailed, including those which facilitate combination of electron bunches with high power laser pulses.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Attosecond-Angstrom free-electron-laser towards the cold beam limit

Electron beam quality is paramount for X-ray pulse production in free-electron-lasers (FELs). State-of-the-art linear accelerators (linacs) can deliver multi-GeV electron beams with sufficient quality for hard X-ray-FELs, albeit requiring km-scale setups, whereas plasma-based accelerators can produce multi-GeV electron beams on metre-scale distances, and begin to reach beam qualities sufficient for EUV FELs. We show, that electron beams from plasma photocathodes many orders of magnitude brighter than state-of-the-art can be generated in plasma wakefield accelerators (PWFA), and then extracted, captured, transported and injected into undulators without quality loss. These ultrabright, sub-femtosecond electron beams can drive hard X-FELs near the cold beam limit to generate coherent X-ray pulses of attosecond-Angstrom class, reaching saturation after only 10 metres of undulator. This plasma-X-FEL opens pathways for novel photon science capabilities, such as unperturbed observation of electronic motion inside atoms at their natural time and length scale, and towards higher photon energies.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Microbunching Instability Characterisation via Temporally Modulated Laser Pulses

High-brightness electron bunches, such as those generated and accelerated in free-electron lasers (FELs), can develop small-scale structure in the longitudinal phase space. This causes variations in the slice energy spread and current profile of the bunch which then undergo amplification, in an effect known as the microbunching instability. By imposing energy spread modulations on the bunch in the low-energy section of an accelerator, using an undulator and a modulated laser pulse in the centre of a dispersive chicane, it is possible tomanipulate the bunch longitudinal phase space. This allows for the control and study of the instability in unprecedented detail. We report measurements and analysis of such modulated electron bunches in the 2Dspectro-temporal domain at the FERMI FEL, for three different bunch compression schemes. We also perform corresponding simulations of these experiments and show that the codes are indeed able to reproduce the measurements across a wide spectral range. This detailed experimental verification of the ability of codes to capture the essential beam dynamics of the microbunching instability will benefit the design and performance of future FELs.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Implications of beam filling patterns on the design of recirculating Energy Recovery Linacs

Recirculating energy recovery linacs are a promising technology for delivering high power particle beams ($\sim$GW) while only requiring low power ($\sim$kW) RF sources. This is achieved by decelerating the used bunches and using the energy they deposit in the accelerating structures to accelerate new bunches. We present studies of the impact of the bunch packet filling pattern on the performance of the accelerating RF system. We perform RF beam loading simulations under various noise levels and beam loading phases with different injection schemes. We also present a mathematical description of the RF system during the beam loading, which can identify optimal beam filling patterns under different conditions. The results of these studies have major implications for design constraints for future energy recovery linacs, by providing a quantitative metric for different machine designs and topologies.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2018

Beyond the Limits of 1D Coherent Synchrotron Radiation

An understanding of collective effects is of fundamental importance for the design and optimisation of the performance of modern accelerators. In particular, the design of an accelerator with strict requirements on the beam quality, such as a free electron laser (FEL), is highly dependent on a correspondence between simulation, theory and experiments in order to correctly account for the effect of coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR), and other collective effects. A traditional approach in accelerator simulation codes is to utilise an analytic one-dimensional approximation to the CSR force. We present an extension of the 1D CSR theory in order to correctly account for the CSR force at the entrance and exit of a bending magnet. A limited range of applicability to this solution, in particular in bunches with a large transverse spot size or offset from the nominal axis, is recognised. More recently developed codes calculate the CSR effect in dispersive regions directly from the Lienard-Wiechert potentials, albeit with approximations to improve the computational time. A new module of the General Particle Tracer (GPT) code was developed for simulating the effects of CSR, and benchmarked against other codes. We experimentally demonstrate departure from the commonly used 1D CSR theory for more extreme bunch length compression scenarios at the FERMI FEL facility. Better agreement is found between experimental data and the codes which account for the transverse extent of the bunch, particularly in more extreme compression scenarios.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2016

A manifestly Lorentz covariant, interacting and non-commutative Dirac equation

We propose a manifestly Lorentz covariant, non-commutative Dirac equation for charged particles interacting with an electromagnetic field. The equation is formulated on the operator level, but operators are not composed through the normal operator product, but a modified product that restores the Lorentz covariance. This equation is solved for the free particle and a particle moving in a constant magnetic field. An abstract action, constructed on the operator level, that yields this equation as equation of motion is also derived. To relate this formalism to current formulations of non-commutative quantum field theories, this action is written in a coherent state basis, leading to an action in 4-dimensional Minkowski space-time. The resulting action differs from existing non-commutative actions, but still exhibits non-commutative effects through non-locality.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

A plasma wakefield acceleration experiment using CLARA beam

We propose a Plasma Accelerator Research Station (PARS) based at proposed FEL test facility CLARA (Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications) at Daresbury Laboratory. The idea is to use the relativistic electron beam from CLARA, to investigate some key issues in electron beam transport and in electron beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration, e.g. high gradient plasma wakefield excitation driven by a relativistic electron bunch, two bunch experiment for CLARA beam energy doubling, high transformer ratio, long bunch self-modulation and some other advanced beam dynamics issues. This paper presents the feasibility studies of electron beam transport to meet the requirements for beam driven wakefield acceleration and presents the plasma wakefield simulation results based on CLARA beam parameters. Other possible experiments which can be conducted at the PARS beam line are also discussed.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2007

Electron Beam Dynamics in 4GLS

Studies of the electron beam dynamics for the 4GLS design are presented. 4GLS will provide three different electron bunch trains to a variety of user synchrotron sources. The 1 kHz XUV-FEL and 100 mA High Average Current branches share a common 540 MeV linac, whilst the 13 MHz IR-FEL must be well-synchronised to them. An overview of the injector designs, electron transport, and energy recovery is given, including ongoing studies of coherent synchrotron radiation, beam break-up and wakefields. This work is being pursued for the forthcoming Technical Design Report due in 2008.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2003

Hadronic Radiation Patterns in Vector Boson Fusion Higgs Production

We consider the hadronic radiation patterns for the generic process of bb + 2 forward jet production at the LHC, where the (centrally produced) bb originate either from a Higgs, a Z or from standard QCD production processes. A numerical technique for evaluating the radiation patterns for non-trivial final states is introduced and shown to agree with the standard analytic results for more simple processes. Significant differences between the radiation patterns for the Higgs signal and the background processes are observed and quantified. This suggests that hadronic radiation patterns could be used as an additional diagnostic tool in Higgs searches in this channel at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2003

A Z-Monitor to Calibrate Higgs Production via Vector Boson Fusion with Rapidity Gaps at the LHC

We study central Z-boson production accompanied by rapidity gaps on either side as a way to gauge Higgs weak boson fusion production at the LHC. We analyse the backgrounds for the bb-decay mode and show that these can be substantially reduced. Special attention is paid to the evaluation of the gap survival factor, which is the major source of theoretical uncertainty in the rate of H and Z central production events with rapidity gaps.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2002

A Z-Monitor to Calibrate Higgs Production via Vector Boson Fusion with Rapidity Gaps at the LHC

We study central Z-boson production accompanied by rapidity gaps on either side as a way to gauge Higgs weak boson fusion production at the LHC. We analyse the possible backgrounds for the bb-decay mode and show that these can be substantially reduced. Special attention is paid to the evaluation of the gap survival factor, which is the major source of theoretical uncertainty in the rate of H, Z and W central production events with rapidity gaps.

hep-ph↗