Limiting effects in drive bunch beam dynamics in beam-driven accelerators: instability and collective effects

Abstract

Abstract In a collinear beam-driven wakefield accelerator, a bunch of charged particles is accelerated by a strong electric field that is generated in a medium by a preceding high-charge drive bunch. Multiple beam-driven acceleration concepts have been proposed and demonstrated in proof-of-principle experiments. In some concepts, the medium is plasma where very strong electric fields are created due to the motion of ions and electrons with respect to each other. In other configurations, the medium is a slow-wave electromagnetic structure made of dielectric and/or metal, and high gradients are achieved due to the very short duration of the electromagnetic pulse excited in the structure by the drive bunch. Because of the high charge, and consequently long length of the drive bunch, wakefields excited by the leading particles of the drive bunch affect the trailing particles in the same bunch and result in beam-driven instabilities obstructing the drive bunch's stable propagation and extended interactions with the witness bunch, ultimately terminating the energy transfer process. This paper presents an overview of the drive-bunch beam dynamics in beam-driven structure- and plasma-based accelerators with a focus on beam instabilities that limit stable propagation of the drive bunch, such as the beam break-up instability and transverse defocusing and deflection in cases of cylindrical and planar structures and plasma waveguides. Possible mitigation techniques are discussed.