The Effect of Focusing Field Nonlinearities in MBE-4 on Transverse Beam Dynamics

A particle simulation code was used to study the effect on transverse beam dynamics of nonlinearities of the focusing field in a linear accelerator transporting a multiple beam array. Nonlinear field strengths for various multiple-beam design geometries were calculated by relaxation codes for use in the simulation calculation. Nonlinearities due to asymmetry of the electrode array with respect to a single beam were found to be negligible. Electrode end effect nonlinearities led to emittance growth for off-axis beams, though for the geometry of MBE-4, this was negligible. For misaligned beams, a dodecapole field caused significant emittance growth. This was not seen in single particle tracking calculations. Fields due to induced charge on the electrodes can reduce this effect, or the dodecapole field can be eliminated by proper choice of the electrode radius.