Physics of Space Charge for Advanced Accelerators (Closeout Report)
The goal of this grant is to expand the basic understanding of the physics of extreme space charge in intense electron and ion beams, contributing to the development of future accelerators pushing the intensity frontier. This grant supported experimental, theoretical, and simulation studies. The University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER), the centerpiece of our experimental program, is the leading facility in the U.S. for such space charge studies. UMER is a storage ring that uses high-current, low-energy electrons scaled to access an extended range of space charge intensities for the sole purpose of studying beam physics. During this period, we have awarded 3 Ph.D. degrees to students funded by this grant, published 22 papers, and delivered numerous contributed presentations at professional conferences. This grant marked a period of transition for our program. The total amount awarded was only about 1/3 of that requested, and the period shortened to 1 year 9 months (July 1, 2013 – Mar 31, 2015), instead of the requested 3 years. This severely curtailed the scope of the research from the original proposal. Nevertheless, we have demonstrated significant progress towards our stated goal. We have successfully extended our research program towards the important topic of nonlinear optics, formulating ideas for using UMER as a test bed of such concepts. Furthermore, we have solidified strong collaborations with leading laboratories such as Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), and GSI, Darmstadt in Germany. We have further performed groundbreaking studies on solitons and longitudinal shock-wave compression, a topic under consideration for GSI’s FAIR project. Significant results are reviewed below.