Beam energy reduction in an acceleration gap

Summary form only given. A simple analysis of field energy loss in an acceleration gap for a relativistic beam for which beam particle velocity equals c was made. It was found that the energy loss, which in turn reduces the beam kinetic energy, is ΔV=IZ₀: the beam current times the characteristic impedance of the acceleration gap. As a result, the apparent acceleration voltage of the gap is reduced from the applied voltage by ΔV. This effect appears to be an important design consideration, especially for generation of a high-current beam accelerated by a multigap accelerator