Principles of RF Linear Accelerators

Rating:
Summary: For grad student experimentalists
Review: Particle accelerators can be grouped into various types. Of these, perhaps the simplest to understand are linacs - linear accelerators. In a fairly concise book, Wangler offers a clear elucidation of the main principles underlying most linacs, which use radio frequency techniques to accelerate the charged particles.

He discusses how the pulses of particles can drift, either transversely (that is, orthogonal to the beam direction), or longitudinally (in the beam direction). Both effects are bad, as they lead to a spreading out and dimunition of the luminosity, in area or time. He devotes separate chapters to these effects, as the countermeasures are somewhat different.

When two beams collide, or when a beam collides with a fixed target, the space charge effect can also be significant. He covers the various dynamics of this effect.

Overall, a good graduate text, aimed squarely at experimentalists.