Simulation studies of beam quality in high-gradient accelerators

We use particle simulation techniques to model an idealized induction accelerator geometry. We study the effect of high accelerating gradients on the transverse dynamics of the electron beam. Under these conditions, the significant measure of beam quality is emittance. The model includes the gap fields, but neglects the effect of the gap geometry on the self-fields of the electron beam. The results show that high gradient induction gaps can cause non-linear radial perturbations of the beam. If high enough energies are reached, these perturbations do not adversely affect the beam emittance.