Electromagnetic Simulations of Mechanical Imperfections for Accelerator Cavities

Abstract

Effects of surface roughness and transversal cell misalignments on the performance of elliptical accelerator cavities are studied in this article. A high-beta, 9-cell elliptical cavity, whose pi-mode resonates at 3.9 GHz, is designed to investigate imperfections. The considered frequency is chosen to observe variations of fundamental accelerating cavity parameters, wake potentials, and wake impedances more clearly by using relatively small structures. Moreover, 3-cell elliptical cavities having pi-mode at 2 and 3.9 GHz are designed to confirm the 9-cell cavity results. The undesired effects caused by the considered mechanical imperfections are simulated for an ultra-relativistic bunch in the parameter scope of a realistic scenario. In particular, Huray's snowball model, which is a scattering-based surface roughness approach developed for microstrip lines, is employed to determine the effects of the surface roughness on the accelerator cavities. Surface roughness due to the fabrication process is expressed as a surface impedance, and the required equivalence between the surface roughness and surface impedance concept is achieved. Significant computational efficiency is observed by using the surface impedance concept with Huray's snowball model in the simulations. Experimental verification of certain parameters is included for an elliptical cavity having high cell-to-cell coupling at 3.9 GHz.