RUI: Accelerator Science at the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo

California Polytechnic State University Foundation, San Luis Obispo CA

Investigators

Abstract

The advancement in science is closely connected to the capabilities of instrumentation. Particle accelerators are the instruments of particle physics and x-ray production. The next generations of particle accelerators are being designed to explore the frontiers of high-energy physics and for xray beams for research in biology, chemistry, physics, material science and medicine. Accelerator science research is necessary to gain greater understanding of the physical processes that can impact the performance of these accelerators and develop new techniques of particle acceleration technology. The accelerator science research will be conducted at two of the premier laboratories in the United States in accelerator science, the Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-Based Sciences and Education (CLASSE) at Cornell University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. This award will use the Cornell Electron-Positron Storage Ring Test Accelerator (CesrTA), to examine important beam physics, such as the electron cloud effect, emittance limitations in storage rings, and the fast ion instability, for future lepton storage rings and x-ray sources. One of the key goals of the CesrTA research program is to improve our understanding of the interaction of the electron cloud with the high-energy particle beam. The electron cloud constrains many of the operational parameters of the storage ring such as beam current; bunch spacing, ring energy, and these parameters can be measured experimentally on CesrTA. Beam dynamics experiments using the CesrTA beam diagnostics capable of quantifying bunch-by-bunch and turn-by-turn beam dynamics will be used to study important lepton storage ring beam dynamics in the presence of the electron cloud. In addition, we conduct basic accelerator science research on crystal channeling at the Facility for Advanced Accelerator Experimental Tests (FACET) and the End Station A Test Beam (ESTB) facility at SLAC. Channeling is the phenomenon that arises when charged particles become trapped between the crystal planes due to the electrostatic field of the crystal ions. There is strong interest in using bent crystals as collimators and magnets for high-energy electron and positron beams and well as using crystals as generators of gamma-rays as a positron crystal undulator. The development of a crystal undulator opens the prospect of creation of novel light sources that will find their application in technology, medicine and basic sciences. Both accelerator science research projects provide Cal Poly undergraduate students research opportunities at large accelerator facilities in accelerator science. Cal Poly students will gain hands-on experience in all facets of the physics research from designing an experiment, simulating the physics, building the hardware, taking the data, analyzing the data, and publishing the results.