Notes on the design of experiments and beam diagnostics with synchrotron light detected by a gated photomultiplier for the Fermilab superconducting electron linac and for the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA)

TL;DR

This paper discusses the design of experiments and diagnostics using synchrotron light detected by gated photomultipliers for Fermilab's electron linac and IOTA, enabling beam analysis and scientific observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel diagnostic system utilizing gated MCP-PMTs for detailed beam and radiation analysis in electron accelerators.

Findings

Effective detection of synchrotron light with high dynamic range.

Capability to observe single-electron radiation time structure.

System suitability for both diagnostics and scientific experiments.

Abstract

We outline the design of beam experiments for the electron linac at the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology (FAST) facility and for the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA), based on synchrotron light emitted by the electrons in bend dipoles, detected with gated microchannel-plate photomultipliers (MCP-PMTs). The system can be used both for beam diagnostics (e.g., beam intensity with full dynamic range, turn-by-turn beam vibrations, etc.) and for scientific experiments, such as the direct observation of the time structure of the radiation emitted by single electrons in a storage ring. The similarity between photon pulses and spectrum at the downstream end of the electron linac and in the IOTA ring allows one to test the apparatus during commissioning of the linac.