Beam halo formation from space-charge dominated beams in uniform focusing channels.

摘要

In space-charge dominated beams the nonlinear space-charge forces produce a filamentation pattern, which results in a 2-component beam consisting of an inner core and an outer halo. The halo is very prominent in mismatched beams, and the potential for accelerator activation is of concern for a next generation of cw, high-power proton linacs that could be applied for intense neutron generators to process nuclear materials. We present new results about beam halo and the evolution of space-charge dominated beams from multiparticle simulation of initial laminar beams in a uniform linear focusing channel, and from a model consisting of single particle interactions with a uniform-density beam core. We study the energy gain from particle interactions with the space-charge field of the core, and we identify the resonant characteristic of this interaction as the basic cause of the separation of the beam into the two components. We identify three different particle-trajectory types, and we suggest that one of these types may lead to continuous halo growth, even after the halo is removed by collimators.