Microwave Electron Accelerators

Sponsoring University:

Northern Illinois University

Course Name:

Microwave Electron Accelerators
This class is limited to 20 student

Instructors:

David Whittum, IntraOp Medical and Massimo Dal Forno
TA: Sajini Wijethunga, Fermilab

Purpose and Audience
This course will introduce microwave linear accelerators starting from Maxwell’s equations and the Lorentz force law. Students are typically senior undergraduates or graduate students in physics, applied physics, or electrical engineering. Auditors have included accelerator systems operators and technicians, mechanical and manufacturing engineers. Students should have completed freshman calculus and should be comfortable with basic concepts of RLC circuits.

Prerequisites
Algebra, trigonometry, calculus, undergraduate electrodynamics and mechanics.

It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they meet the course prerequisites or have equivalent experience.

Objectives
Students will learn how to describe the behavior of an accelerator in the time or frequency domain, and to explain the theory behind cold-test measurements, and observations with beam. They will use CAD tools to design a structure including the input coupler. They will become familiar with the practical design trade-offs and the manufacturing and operational aspects of normal conducting microwave accelerators. They will be able to analyze their accelerator application and describe it in conventional terms.

Instructional Method
There are two lectures each morning with a 20-minute break in between. After lunch there will be a computer lab. On some afternoons there will be a homework review session or a special topic lecture. An important resource for this course is the (optional) evening homework and study session, where students usually work together on problems. Instructors will come by a couple of times during the evening to help with homeworks if needed. All homeworks and exams are open book, and collaboration is encouraged except for the final exam, where the honor system is in force.

Course Content
Structure modeling and design are developed from an elementary point of view, with computer lab exercises for illustration. Topics include quality factor, [R/Q], shunt impedance, loss factor, VSWR, Slater's theorem, external coupling, cell-to-cell coupling, Brillouin curve, tuning errors, tuning, tolerances, field-symmetry. The behavior of standing-wave and travelling-wave structures is analyzed on and off resonance, in cold test, and in operation with beam loading. Additional topics influencing linac design will be selected based on student interest and may include rf systems, instrumentation, beam dynamics, wakefields. It is important for students to fill out the course questionnaire available on the web to express their particular interests and applications. Illustrations and exercises will be drawn from practical problems in industrial, medical and high energy physics applications.

Reading Requirements
References may be found at the course URL. Reading will consist of two sets of notes that will be distributed to enrolled students beforehand. (1) Introduction to Electrodynamics for Microwave Linear Accelerators (SLAC-PUB-7802) and (2) Introduction to Microwave Linacs (SLAC-PUB-8026). The first chapter of  (1) should be read before the course. Lectures will proceed more along the intuitive lines of (2), albeit with mathematical forays as needed in the style of (1). A detailed lecture schedule will be posted at the course URL.

Credit Requirements
Credit is based on exercises given in seven homeworks, one midterm, and one final exam. Each part of each exercise carries a weight of at least one point, and more difficult exercises will carry up to 4 points. Points for the course usually total about 150, with typically 20 points each for midterm and final. Extra credit opportunities will appear frequently.

USPAS Computer Requirements
There will be no Computer Lab and all participants are required to bring their own portable computer to access online course notes and computer resources. This can be a laptop or a tablet with a sufficiently large screen and keyboard. Windows, Mac, and Linux-based systems that are wifi capable and have a standard web browser and mouse are all acceptable. You should have privileges for software installs. If you are unable to bring a computer, please contact uspas@fnal.gov ASAP to request a laptop loan. Very limited IT support and spare loaner laptops will be available during the session.

Northern Illinois University course number: PHYS 790D Special Topics in Physics - Beam Physics
Indiana University course number: Physics 570, "Introduction to Accelerator Physics"
Michigan State University course number: PHY 963, "U.S. Particle Accelerator School"
MIT course number: 8.790, "Accelerator Physics"