Femtosecond planar electron beam source for micron-scale dielectric wake field accelerator

A new accelerator LACARA is under construction at ATF, Brookhaven National Laboratory. LACARA is to be powered by a 1 TW CO2 laser, and will utilize a 6-T 2-m long solenoidal magnetic field. For a 50 MeV injected electron bunch, LACARA is expected to produce a 100 MeV 1 ps gyrating beam with ~ 3% energy spread. Beam electrons advance in phase at the laser frequency, executing one cycle each 35 fs. A beam stop with a small off-axis channel will transmit a short beam pulse every optical cycle, thereby producing a train of about 30, 3.5 fs, 1-3 pC microbunches for each laser pulse. One application for this train of microbunches obtained from a LACARA-type device involves focusing a portion of the beam using a magnetic quadrupole into a rectangular cross-section having a narrow dimension of a few microns and a height of a few hundred microns. These microbunches may be injected into a planar dielectric-lined waveguide where cumulative buildup of wake fields can lead to an accelerating gradient > 1 GV/m. This proposed vacuum-based wake field structure is mechanically rigid and capable of accurate microfabrication, factors important in staging a large number of accelerator modules. Furthermore, the accelerating gradients it promises are comparable with those for plasma accelerators. A LACARA unit for preparing suitable bunches at 500 MeV is described. Physics issues are discussed including bunch spreading and transport, bunch shaping, aperture radiation, dielectric breakdown, and bunch stability in the rectangular wake field structure.