Quantitative electron and gas cloud experiments

Electrons can accumulate in and degrade the quality of positively charged beams. This is a well-known problem in proton storage rings. Heavy-ion rings are more frequently limited by gas pressure-rise effects. Both effects may limit how closely the beam radius can approach the beam-tube radius in a heavy-ion linac. We study beams of 1MeV K+ with currents of up to 180mA in the High-Current Experiment (HCX), and compare our work with simulations. The theory and simulation results are discussed in a companion papers. We have developed the first diagnostics that quantitatively measure the accumulation of electrons in a beam [M. Kireeff Covo, A. Molvik, A. Friedman, J.-L. Vay, P. Seidl, G. Logan, D. Baca, J.L. Vujic, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 (2006) 054801; M. Kireeff Covo, et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A, 2007, in press, doi:10.1016/j.nima.2007.02.045.]. This will enable the particle balance to be measured for each source of electrons in a linac: ionization of gas, emission from walls surrounding the beam, and emission from an end wall coupled with electron drifts upstream through quadrupole magnets, and electron-trapping efficiencies can be determined. Experiments where the heavy-ion beam is transported with solenoid magnetic fields, rather than with quadrupole magnetic or electrostatic fields, are being initiated. We discuss plans for experiments using electrode sets (in the middle and at the ends of magnets) to either expel or to trap electrons within the magnets. We observe oscillations of the electron density and position in the last quadrupole magnet when we flood the beam with electrons from an end wall. These oscillations, near 6MHz, are observed to grow from the center of the magnet while drifting upstream against the beam, in good agreement with simulations.