Production of High Power Microwaves for Particle Acceleration with an FEL Bunched Electron Beam

Among the studies in the framework of high gradient linear electron–positron collider research, the Two-Beam Accelerator (TBA) is a very promising concept, and two projects are in progress, the Compact Linear Collider project at CERN (W. Schnell, Report no. CERN SL/92-51 and CLIC note 184; K. Hübner, CERN/PS 92-43, CLIC note 176; S. Van der Meer, CERN/PS 89-50, CLIC note 97.) and the Relativistic Klystron-TBA project at LBNL (Technical Review Committee, International Linear Collider Technical Review Committee Report 1995, SLAC-R-95-471, 1995). In a TBA an extremely intense low-energy electron beam, called the drive beam, is bunched at the desired operating frequency, and upon passing through resonant cavities generates radio-frequency power for accelerating the main beam. Among the different approaches to the production of a suitable drive beam, the use of an FEL has been proposed and is under active study at CEA/CESTA.