REGENERATIVE BEAM BREAKUP IN MULTI-PASS ELECTRON ACCELERATORS

Important electron coincidence experiments in the 1 to 2 GeV range require electron beams of high intensity and high duty factor. To provide such beams, multi-pass electron accelerator systems are being developed at many laboratories.; The beam current in multi-pass electron machines is limited by beam breakup which arises from interaction of the electron beam with deflection modes of the accelerator structure. Achieving high beam intensity (50 to 100 (mu)A) will require detailed understanding and careful control of beam breakup phenomena, and is the subject of this thesis.; The TM(,11)-like traveling wave theory is applied to obtain a physical understanding of beam-mode interactions and the principles of focussing in simple two-pass systems, and is used as a basis for general studies of the dependence of starting current on accelerator parameters in systems of many passes. The concepts developed are applied in analyzing beam breakup in the superconducting recyclotron at Stanford. Measurements of beam interactions with selected breakup modes are incorporated in a simple model in order to estimate relative strengths of breakup modes and to predict starting currents in five-pass operation. The improvement over these predicted currents required in order to obtain 50 to 100 (mu)A beams is shown to be achievable with a combination of increased breakup mode loading and improved beam optics.