Abstract
A radio-frequency (RF) cavity apparatus for accelerating charged particles includes first and second cavity arms. The first and second cavity arms have respective first and second axes of rotational symmetry and each cavity arm includes at least one cell. The first and second cavity arms are connected by a resonance coupler. The cell(s) of the first cavity aim have an axial dimensional parameter that is equal to a corresponding axial dimensional parameter of the cell(s) of the second cavity arm, and the cell(s) of the first cavity arm have at least one non-axial dimensional parameter that differs from corresponding non-axial dimensional parameter(s) of the cell(s) of the second cavity arm.
Claims
1. A radio-frequency (RF) cavity apparatus for accelerating charged particles, comprising first and second cavity arms, the first and second cavity arms having respective first and second axes of rotational symmetry and each cavity arm comprising at least one cell, wherein the first and second cavity aims are connected by a resonance coupler, wherein the cell(s) of the first cavity arm have an axial dimensional parameter that is equal to a corresponding axial dimensional parameter of the cell(s) of the second cavity arm, and wherein the cell(s) of the first cavity arm have at least one non-axial dimensional parameter that differs from corresponding non-axial dimensional parameter(s) of the cell(s) of the second cavity arm.
2. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein more than one non-axial dimensional parameter differs between the cell(s) of the first and second cavity arms.
3. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the or each non-axial parameter is selected from a group consisting of: a maximum width of a cell; a maximum radius of a cell; a minimum width of a cell; a minimum radius of a cell; and a curvature of a cell wall.
4. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the non-axial dimensional parameter(s) are one or more of the major and minor axes of one or more ellipses, where the ellipses correspond to portions of a cavity wall along an axial cross-section of a cell.
5. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the difference between the or each of the non-axial dimensional parameters of the cell(s) of the first cavity arm and the corresponding non-axial dimensional parameter(s) of the cell(s) of the second cavity arm, expressed as a percentage of the former, is less than about 5%, preferably less than about 3%, more preferably less than about 1%, and most preferably less than about 0.5%.
6. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the axial dimensional parameter is the length of each cell.
7. (canceled)
8. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the axial dimensional parameter value of the cell(s) of the first and second cavity arms is selected so as to support a fundamental mode in the range of about 100 MHz-10 GHz, preferably about 500 MHz-5 GHz, more preferably about 1-2.5 GHz, and most preferably about 1.3 GHz.
9.-19. (canceled)
20. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein resonance coupler is configured to strongly couple eigenmodes which have the same frequencies and to weakly couple eigenmodes which have different frequencies.
21. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the resonance coupler comprises a single coupling cell which is connected to one end of each of the cavity arms.
22. The cavity apparatus as claimed in claim 21, wherein the single coupling cell is racetrack- or oblong-shaped.
23.-35. (canceled)
36. A method of recovering energy from a charged particle beam comprising: generating a charged particle beam; passing the charged particle beam through a first cavity aim of a radio-frequency (RF) cavity apparatus, the first cavity arm being arranged to apply an electric and/or magnetic field to accelerate the charged particle beam; passing the charged particle beam through a second cavity arm of the radio-frequency (RF) cavity apparatus, the second cavity arm being arranged to apply an electric and/or magnetic field to decelerate the charged particle beam after it has interacted; wherein the first and second cavity arms are connected by a resonance coupler, wherein the cell(s) of the first cavity arm have an axial dimensional parameter that is equal to a corresponding axial dimensional parameter of the cell(s) of the second cavity arm, and wherein the cell(s) of the first cavity arm have at least one non-axial dimensional parameter that differs from corresponding non-axial dimensional parameter(s) of the cell(s) of the second cavity arm.
37. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein more than one non-axial dimensional parameter differs between the cell(s) of the first and second cavity arms.
38. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the or each non-axial parameter is selected from a group consisting of: a maximum width of a cell; a maximum radius of a cell; a minimum width of a cell; a minimum radius of a cell; and a curvature of a cell wall.
39. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the non-axial dimensional parameter(s) are one or more of the major and minor axes of one or more ellipses, where the ellipses correspond to portions of a cavity wall along an axial cross-section of a cell.
40. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the difference between the or each of the non-axial dimensional parameters of the cell(s) of the first cavity arm and the corresponding non-axial dimensional parameter(s) of the cell(s) of the second cavity arm, expressed as a percentage of the former, is less than about 5%, preferably less than about 3%, more preferably less than about 1%, and most preferably less than about 0.5%.
41. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the axial dimensional parameter is the length of each cell.
42. (canceled)
43. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the axial dimensional parameter value of the cell(s) of the first and second cavity arms is selected so as to support a fundamental mode in the range of about 100 MHz-10 GHz, preferably about 500 MHz-5 GHz, more preferably about 1-2.5 GHz, and most preferably about 1.3 GHz.
44.-54. (canceled)
55. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the resonance coupler comprises a single coupling cell which is connected to one end of each of the cavity arms.
56. The method as claimed in claim 55, wherein the single coupling cell is racetrack- or oblong-shaped.
57. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the resonance coupler is configured to strongly couple eigenmodes which have the same frequencies and to weakly couple eigenmodes which have different frequencies.
58.-70. (canceled)
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0046] Certain preferred embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0047] FIG. 1 shows an outline of a cross-section of a cavity apparatus according to the prior art.
[0048] FIG. 2 shows an outline of a cross-section of a cavity apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0049] FIG. 3 shows a side view of a quadrant of a mid-cell from a first cavity arm of the apparatus of FIG. 2 (dotted line) overlaid on a corresponding quadrant of a mid-cell of a second cavity arm (solid line).
[0050] FIG. 4 shows an outline profile of one side of the second cavity arm of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2.
[0051] FIG. 5 shows an outline of a quadrant of a mid-cell of the second cavity arm of the embodiment of FIG. 2, showing first and second ellipses that define the curvature of the cell profile.
[0052] FIG. 6 shows a side view of a mid-to-coupling cell, showing first and second ellipses that define the curvature of the profile of the half-cell.
[0053] FIG. 7 shows a top view of the mid-to-coupling cell shown in FIG. 6.
[0054] FIG. 8 shows a side view of an end coupling cell.
[0055] FIG. 9 shows the cavity apparatus of FIG. 2, overlaid with vector arrows indicating the strength and direction of the electric field of the fundamental mode of the cavity.
[0056] FIG. 10 shows the cavity apparatus of the prior art as shown in FIG. 1, overlaid with vector arrows indicating the strength and direction of the electric field of a higher order mode of the cavity.
[0057] FIG. 11 shows the cavity apparatus of FIG. 2, overlaid with vector arrows indicating the strength and direction of the electric field of the higher order mode shown in FIG. 10.
[0058] FIG. 12 shows a dispersion diagram for two cell designs according to embodiments of the invention, where the dispersion diagram shows the path bands for the fundamental and higher order modes for each cell design.
[0059] FIG. 13 shows the cavity apparatus of FIG. 2 in operation with an electron beam accelerated by the cavity apparatus and used to generate X-rays through inverse-Compton scattering.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0060] FIG. 1 shows a cavity apparatus 2 according to the prior art. The cavity apparatus 2 comprises a first cavity arm 4 and a second cavity arm 6. The first and second cavity arms 4, 6 have respective first and second axes of rotation 8, 10. The first and second cavity arms 4, 6 are arranged side by side with their respective axes 8, 10 parallel. The first cavity arm 4 comprises mid-cells 12 and an end cell 14. Similarly, the second cavity arm 6 comprises mid-cells 16 and an end cell 18. The first and second arms 4, 6 are joined by a coupling cell 20. The mid-cells 12 of the first cavity arm 4 have identical shape and dimensions to the corresponding mid-cells 16 of the second cavity arm 6. Similarly the end cell 14 of the second cavity aim 4 has identical shape and dimensions to end cell 18 of the second cavity arm 6.
[0061] FIG. 2 shows a cavity apparatus 22 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The cavity apparatus 22 comprises a first cavity arm 24 and a second cavity arm 26. Similarly to the cavity apparatus 2 of FIG. 1, the first cavity arm 24 has an axis of rotational symmetry 28, and comprises mid-cells 32 and an end cell 34. Similarly the second cavity arm 26 has an axis of rotational symmetry 30 and comprises mid-cells 36 and an end cell 38. The first and second cavity arms 24, 2 are joined by a coupling cell 40.
[0062] In contrast with the cavity apparatus 2 of FIG. 1, in the cavity apparatus 22 of FIG. 2, the mid-cells 32 of the first cavity arm 24 do not have identical shape and dimensions to the mid-cells 36 of the second cavity arm 26. Similarly, the end cell 34 of the first cavity arm 24 does not have identical shape and dimensions to the end cell 38 of the second cavity arm 26. The difference in shape and dimension is relatively small, but is most evident in the curvature of the arms at their narrowest points, as indicated by the dotted box 42 shown in FIG. 2.
[0063] The small difference in the curvature of the mid-cells 32 of the first cavity arm 24 and the mid-cells 36 of the second cavity arm 26 is visible in FIG. 3, which shows a quadrant 44 (dashed line) of a mid-cell 32 of the first cavity arm 24, which is overlaid in a corresponding quadrant 46 (solid line) of a mid-cell 36 of the second cavity aim 26. This difference in curvature is characterized by a number of non-axial dimensional parameters, namely the major and minor ellipses that define the shape of portions of the cells walls, as described below with reference to FIG. 5.
[0064] FIG. 4 shows a profile of one side of the second cavity all 126 of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 shows the division of the cells into cell pieces according to the manufacture of the cavity aim 26. The cavity aim 26 is produced from multiple mid-cell pieces 48. Each mid-cell piece 48 comprises a left side 50 and a right side 52 which are symmetric about a plane of reflectional symmetry 54. The left part 50 of each mid-cell piece joins to the right part 52 of the adjacent mid-cell piece to form a mid-cell 56. The exceptions are the mid-cell piece 48a (which is adjacent to an end cell piece 58, and forms part of the end cell 60) and the mid-cell piece 48b (which is adjacent to a mid-to-coupling section 62, and which fauns part of the mid-cell 56a adjacent to coupling cell 64).
[0065] The mid-to-coupling section 62 comprises two parts: the coupling cell piece 66 and the mid-to-coupling cell piece 68. The coupling cell piece 66 of the mid-to-coupling section 62 has shape and dimensions as described further below with respect to FIG. 7. In combination with end coupling cell piece 70, the coupling cell piece 66 provides the necessary coupling cell shape to effect transmission of RF energy from the first cavity aim 24 to the second cavity aim 26. In the present embodiment, the coupling cell has a racetrack shape. The dimensional parameters of the coupling cell, given in Table 3 below, provide the further advantage that the coupling cell strongly couples the fundamental mode, but weakly couples higher order modes.
[0066] FIG. 5 shows the outline of a cross-sectional view of the quadrant 46 shown in FIG. 3, overlaid with a first ellipse 72 and a second ellipse 74 which define the curvature of the outer profile 76 of the cell quadrant. The curvature of the outer cell profile 76 is specified according to the major and minor axes of the first and second ellipses 72, 74. The first ellipse 72 has minor axis A and major axis B. Second ellipse has minor axis a and major axis b. The dimension of the cell quadrant in the axial direction (i.e. along the axis 30 shown in FIG. 2) is l=λ/4, where λ is the wavelength of the fundamental mode of each mid-cell 36. The radius of the mid-cell piece 46 at its widest point is specified as R.sub.eq. The radius of the mid-cell piece at its narrowest point is R.sub.iris.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Symmetric Asymmetric Asymmetric (both arms' (first cavity arm (second cavity Parameter cells)/mm cells)/mm arm cells)/mm R.sub.eq 103.3 103.3 104.3 A 42 42 42 B 42 42 43.1 R.sub.iris 35 35.75 37 a 12 12.75 11.75 b 19 18 20 l 57.7 57.7 57.7
[0067] Table 1 shows three sets of example values for the parameters R.sub.eq, A, B, R.sub.iris, a, b and 1. The first column of values is a typical set for a mid-cell 12, 16 of a symmetric cavity apparatus according to FIG. 1, i.e. the prior art. This set of parameters applies to the mid-cells 12, 16 in both the first cavity arm 4 and the second cavity arm 6. The second column of values (first cavity arm calls) is an example set of values for the parameters of a mid-cell 32 of the first cavity arm 24 of the asymmetric cavity apparatus of FIG. 2. These values would be used in combination with the values of the third column (second cavity aim cells), which are the corresponding parameter values for the mid-cells 36 of the second cavity arm 24 of FIG. 2.
[0068] The end cell piece 58 and the mid-to-coupling cell piece 68 have dimensional parameters R.sub.eq, A, B, R.sub.iris, a, b and 1 corresponding to the equivalent parameters of the mid-cells 32. Table 2 shows the parameter values for the cell piece 58 and the mid-to-coupling cell piece 68 of the embodiment of FIG. 2.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 First Second First cavity arm Second cavity cavity arm cavity mid-to- arm mid-to- end cell arm end cell coupling-cell coupling cell Parameter piece/mm piece/mm piece/mm piece/mm R.sub.eq 103.3 104.3 103.3 104.3 A 42 42 42 42 B 42 43 43.4 43.5 R.sub.iris 39 39 35 35 a 12.75 11.75 12.75 9.69 b 18 20 18 20 l 58.54 60.96 57.7 57.7
[0069] FIGS. 6 and 7 show the coupling cell piece 66 of the coupling cell 40 of the cavity apparatus 22 of FIG. 2. A corresponding piece having the same shape and dimensions is provided for the first cavity arm 24. FIG. 6 shows an outline of a side cross-section of the coupling cell piece 66, showing various parameters that define the shape of the coupling cell piece 66. First and second ellipses 78, 80, overlaid on the cross-section profile define the curvature of the coupling cell piece 66. The first ellipse 78 has minor axis A and major axis B. The second ellipse 80 has minor axis a, and major axis b. The maximum dimension of the coupling cell piece 66 in the axial direction (i.e. the direction of the cavity arm axis of rotation symmetry) is l=λ/4, where λ is the wavelength of the fundamental mode of the cells of the cavity arm. A circular hole 82 is provided where the coupling cell piece 66 joins to the adjacent mid-cell piece 68. The circular hole 82 has radius R.sub.iris.
[0070] FIG. 7 shows a top view of the coupling cell piece 66. The coupling cell piece 66 is shaped to be joined to a corresponding coupling cell piece for the first cavity aim 24 at one end 84. The coupling cell pieces, in combination with end coupling cell pieces (described below with reference to FIG. 8), thus form a single coupling cell having a racetrack shape. The coupling cell piece 66 has dimensional parameter L.sub.b, the distance from the end 84 to the center of the circular hole 82. The coupling cell piece 66 also has a parameter L.sub.s,, which is the length of the straight side 85 of the coupling cell piece 66.
[0071] A cross-section of end coupling cell piece 70, corresponding to coupling cell piece 66, is shown in FIG. 8. The end coupling cell piece 70 also has curvature defined by the first ellipse 78. It has an opening 82a, equivalent to the opening 82 of the coupling cell piece 66. The size and shape of the opening 82a is defined by a third ellipse 80a, and equivalent parameters a′, b′ and R′.sub.iris, as depicted in FIG. 8.
[0072] Typical values for the dimensional parameters of the coupling cell piece 66 and the end coupling cell piece 70 are shown in Table 3.
TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Coupling cell End coupling Parameter piece/mm cell piece/mm A 48.052 47.5 B 29 29.76 R.sub.iris 35 39 a 9.6 9.945 b 10.152 9.945 l 57.652 57.652 L.sub.s 150 150 L.sub.b 111 111
[0073] FIG. 9 shows the cavity apparatus 22 of FIG. 2, overlaid with vector arrows 86 which indicate the magnitude and direction of an electric field of the fundamental mode of the cavity cells when a standing electromagnetic wave is generated in the cavity apparatus. The fundamental mode corresponds to an accelerating mode or operating mode, i.e. the mode which is used to accelerate or decelerate the electrons along the axis of the cavity arms 24, 26. It can be seen from FIG. 9 that the electric field at the center 88 of each cell is in the axial direction. It can also be seen that the direction of the electric field alternates with each cell, i.e. cells 36-1 have the electric fields directed away from the coupling call 40, and cells 36-2 have the electric fields directed towards the coupling cell 40. This is because the center of each cell corresponds to an anti-node of the standing wave. As the standing wave oscillates, the direction of the electric fields in each cell will alternate such that it changes direction twice each period.
[0074] When the device is under operation, electrons are sent along the axis of each cavity arm in bunches, at such a velocity so as to coincide their passage through the center of each cell with the occurrence of a maximum in the anti-node, i.e. to coincide with when the electric field is strongest and is pointing in the direction that the electrons are moving (or, where the electrons are being decelerated, in the opposite direction). It can be seen from FIG. 9 that the magnitude of the electric field of the first cavity arm is substantially equal to the magnitude of the electric field in the second cavity arm, i.e. the first and second cavity arms share a common fundamental (i.e. accelerating or operating) mode.
[0075] FIG. 10 shows the cavity apparatus of FIG. 1, i.e. of the prior art, with vector arrows overlaid thereon showing the electric field of a higher order mode. The vector arrows 90 show that the electric field is low near the axis of each cavity arm and higher away from the axis. The effect of such high order modes on the trajectory of the electron bunches moving through the cavity arm will depend on the particular mode, e.g. whether it is a monopole, dipole, quadrupole or higher order mode. The higher order modes (or parasitic modes) have the effect of interfering with the desired trajectory of the electron bunches, and may cause the bunches to lose integrity (i.e. to break apart), particularly at high currents when the amount of charge in each bunch is higher. This limits the operating current of the cavity, and thus limits the brightness of the X-rays (or other radiation) that could be generated using the accelerated electron beam. As the cells of each cavity arm have equal dimensional parameters, the higher order mode is of equal magnitude in each arm.
[0076] FIG. 11 shows the cavity apparatus 22 according to FIG. 2 with vector arrows 92 overlaid thereon. The vector arrows correspond to the same higher order mode as is depicted in FIG. 10. However, the cells of the second cavity arm 26 are different from the cells of the first cavity arm 24 the second cavity arm, which prevents constructive interference of the higher order mode to establish a standing wave at that frequency. Accordingly, the higher order mode is suppressed. The result is that while the electric field of the higher order mode is present in the first cavity arm 24, no electric field corresponding to that mode is seen in the second cavity arm 26. It will be understood that besides the mode represented in FIG. 11, there are other higher order modes that are present in the second cavity arm 26 but not present in the first cavity aim 24. Similarly, there are higher order modes that are present in the first cavity arm 24 which are not present in the second cavity arm 26.
[0077] Accordingly, when electron bunches are decelerated in the one cavity arm, e.g. the first cavity arm 24, if some of the electrons' energy is transferred to the higher order mode shown in FIG. 11, this energy is not transferred to a corresponding higher order mode in the other cavity aim, e.g. the second cavity arm 26. There is therefore no increase in deflections of electrons in the second cavity arm 26 as a result of energy being transferred from the decelerating electrons to the higher order mode shown in FIG. 11.
[0078] As a result, the electrons can be accelerated with significantly reduced interference from the parasitic modes. This allows higher currents to be used without causing break-up of the electron bunches. Thus, higher energy electron beams and brighter X-rays can be generated.
[0079] FIG. 12 shows a dispersion diagram illustrating the frequency pass-bands for a mid-cell of the first cavity arm 24 (solid lines) and the mid-cells of the second cavity arm 26 (dashed lines). The solid lines correspond to a mid-cell having the parameters of the axis 1 cell of Table 1. The dashed lines correspond to a mid-cell having the parameters of the axis 2 cell of Table 1.
[0080] Each line on the dispersion diagram represents the pass-band for a particular mode in the case of an infinitely periodic structure, i.e. using a model which ignores the effects of having a finite number of mid-cells. A pass-band shows the frequency range in which a mode can propagate with a particular phase advance between adjacent cells in a cavity arm. The phase advance between adjacent cells of the cavity arm is the quantity shown on the x-axis of the dispersion diagram. The frequency of the mode in GHz is shown on the y-axis.
[0081] The lowest frequency solid line 94 of the first cavity aim cells and the lowest frequency dashed line 96 of the second cavity arm cells correspond to the fundamental mode (the operating or accelerating mode) of the respective cavity arms 24, 26. The two fundamental modes 94, 96 of the respective cavity arms 24, 26 show very little difference in frequency, indicating that the cells of the first and second cavity arms 24, 26, for practical purposes, may be considered to share the same fundamental mode.
[0082] The higher order modes of the first cavity arm 24 are indicated by solid lines 98. The higher order modes of the second cavity arm 26 are indicated by dashed lines 100. The difference in the parameters of the cells of the first and second cavity aims 24, 26 results in a difference in frequency of corresponding pass-bands. The difference in the frequency of these pass-bands prevents the higher order modes of the first cavity arm occurring in the second cavity aim (and vice versa), in particular, due to weak coupling, via the coupling cell, of eigenmodes which are not simultaneously shared by the cavities at both arms. The difference between each pair of higher order modes is shown as d.sub.1 for the lowest frequency pair, d.sub.2 for the next highest, and d.sub.3 for the next highest. It is preferable that the difference d.sub.1 , d.sub.2, d.sub.3 between each pair of adjacent pass-bands is of the order of MHz, as provides a desirable level of suppression of the higher order modes in the second cavity arm.
[0083] FIG. 13 shows an exemplary X-ray generation apparatus 102 comprising a cavity apparatus 104 of the construction described with respect to FIG. 2. The cavity apparatus 104 is embedded in a cryostat 112. The cavity apparatus comprises super-conducting material. The apparatus comprises an electron beam generator 106 which generates an electron beam 108. The electron beam 108 is accelerated along the second cavity aim 110. An array 114 of super-conducting magnets is embedded in the same cryostat 112 as the cavity apparatus 104. The array 114 of super-conducting magnets is used to transport, focus and compress the electron beam 108. As is shown, the electron beam 108 may pass through a laser near a cavity 116 where it interacts with photons to generate X-rays via inverse Compton scattering. After the electron beam 108 has interacted with the photons, it is re-directed by the super-conducting magnet array 114 to the first cavity arm 118 where it is decelerated. The RF energy recovered from the deceleration of the electron beam 108 is transmitted to the second cavity arm 110 via RF transmission means in the form of a coupling cell 120 so that the RF energy can be used for the acceleration of the electrons in the second cavity arm 110. The decelerated electrons 108 are then directed into a beam dump 122. A significant fraction of the energy of the electron beam 108 is recovered when it is decelerated in the first cavity aim 104, making the apparatus more efficient. The electron beam, after deceleration, is dumped at much lower energy than its maximum energy. For example, the energy at the dump may be of the order of 200 times less than the maximum beam energy. Correspondingly, the RF power to accelerate the electron beam is about 200 times lower than the reactive power of the electron beam at the point of interaction with the laser light.
[0084] In the embodiment of FIG. 13, the electron beam 108 is accelerated in the second cavity aim 110 and decelerated in the first cavity aim 118. However, it will be appreciated that with suitable repositioning of the electron beam generator 106 and the beam dump 122, the electron beam 108 could be directed in the opposite direction, i.e. accelerated in the first cavity aim 118 and decelerated in the second cavity arm 110.
[0085] The electron beam 108 comprises bunches of electrons. The suppression of the higher order modes in the second cavity arm allows the acceleration of electron bunches of greater charge, i.e. allowing higher operating current. Accordingly, brighter X-ray beams can be generated.
[0086] It will be appreciated that only one particular embodiment of the cavity apparatus of the present invention has been described above, with one example application. Many other embodiments, variations and applications are possible within the scope of the invention.
[0087] What is claimed is:
