A Phase Modulated Collective Ion Accelerator

The possibility of constructing compact, highcurrent traveling wave ion accelerators through employment of relativistic electron beam collective modes has been suggested often in recent years. A new mechanism based upon temporal modulation of the beam kinetic energy has been studied by us, using both analytic and numerical tools. Preliminary linear studies for the slow cyclotron beam mode indicate that such a mechanism can yield efficient acceleration to ion velocities of roughly 0.5 c in a simple, straight-walled waveguide. Numerical simulations have been performed to verify the theory and investigate nonlinear wave/particle interactions.