High Gradient Performance of NLC/GLC X-Band Accelerating Structures

During the past five years, there has been an concerted program at SLAC and KEK to develop accelerator structures that meet the high gradient (65 MV/m) performance requirements for the Next Linear Collider (NLC) and Global Linear Collider (GLC) initiatives. The design that resulted is a 60-cm-long, traveling-wave structure with low group velocity and 150 degree per cell phase advance. It has an average iris size that produces an acceptable short-range wakefield, and dipole mode damping and detuning that adequately suppresses the long-range wakefield. More than eight such structures have operated at a 60 Hz repetition rate over 1000 hours at 65 MV/m with 400 ns long pulses, and have reached breakdown rate levels below the limit for the linear collider. Moreover, the structures are robust in that the rates continue to decrease over time, and if the structures are briefly exposed to air, the rates recover to their low levels within a few days. This paper presents a summary of the results from this program, which effectively ended last August with the selection of ‘cold’ technology for an International Linear Collider (ILC).