Ricerc@Sapienza

Advanced linear accelerator design relies on Optical Transition Radiation (OTR) screens to measure beam spot size; for instance, such screens are foreseen in plasma based accelerators (EuSPARC or EuPRAXIA) or Compton machines (Gamma Beam Source at ELI-NP).

OTR angular distribution strongly depends on beam energy. Since OTR screens are typically placed in several positions along the Linac to monitor beam envelope, one may perform a distributed energy measurement along the machine. Such feature could be very useful to quantify the effect of beam loading when bunch trains are traveling in the accelerating structures (e.g. in Compton Sources). Furthermore, a single shot energy measurement can be useful in plasma accelerators to measure shot to shot energy variations after the plasma interaction.

This research aims to investigate the use of such technique in the above-mentioned machines to propose a cheap, reliable diagnostic tool applicable in next generation particle accelerators. It will start from the description of OTR radiation reported in literature; then we will design a set-up that can be hosted in a typical accelerator environment. Bench measurements of the designed optical lines are foreseen as well.