SPACE-CHARGE COMPENSATION USING ELECTRON COLUMNS AT IOTA

Abstract

Beam loss due to space-charge is a major problem at current and future high intensity particle accelerators. The space-charge force can be compensated for proton or ion beams by creating a column of electrons with a charge distribution matched to that of the beam, while maintaining electron-proton stability. The column is created by the beam ionizing short sections of high pressure gas. The ionization electrons are then shaped appropriately using external electric and magnetic fields. The Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) ring at Fermilab is a test bed for mitigation techniques for beam loss and instabilities. A 2.5 MeV proton beamline is under construction in IOTA, to be used to study space-charge compensation using an Electron Column and Electron Lens for a space-charge dominated beam. Simulations using the particle-in-cell code, Warp, have been made to track the evolution of both the electron column and the beam over multiple passes.