Multibunch accelerator operation with RF pulse distortion

Summary form only given, as follows. The next generation of linear colliders will require high accelerating gradients to achieve teraelectronvolt energies in an accelerator of reasonable length. To achieve these gradients while avoiding breakdown will require microwave sources in the range of 11-17 GHz with RF pulses of lengths approximately equal to the fill time of the accelerating structure. To increase luminosity, it will be necessary to accelerate many bunches in one filling of the RF structure while maintaining extremely restrictive bunch-to-bunch energy variation. The dispersion characteristics of the accelerating structure can cause significant distortion of the short RF pulses, both in magnitude and phase, which will cause undesirable energy variation between bunches. An analysis of this dispersion effect using a filter theory approach was compared to experimental observations performed on a SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) type high-gradient accelerator, operating at 11.42 GHz with an average accelerating gradient of 100 MV/m and a fill time of 28 ns. A numerical study of multibunch operation in this accelerator was performed. Beam loading due to wakefield effects was calculated using the AMOS computer code