Measurements of Intra-Beam Scattering at Low Emittance in the Advanced Light Source

The beam emittance at the interaction point of linear colliders is expected to be strongly influenced by the emittance of the beams extracted from the damping rings. Intra-beam scattering (IBS) potentially limits the minimum emittance of low-energy storage rings, and this effect strongly influences the choice of energy of damping rings [1]. Theoretical analysis suggests that the NLC damping rings will experience modest emittance growth at 1.98 GeV, however there is little experimental data of IBS effects for very low-emittance machines in the energy regime of interest. The Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is a third-generation synchrotron light source operating with high-intensity, low-emittance beams at energies of approximately 1-2 GeV, and with emittance coupling capability of 1% or less. We present measurements of the beam growth in three dimensions as a function of current, for normalized natural horizontal emittance of approximately 1-10 mm-mrad at energies of 0.7-1.5 GeV, values comparable to the parameters in an NLC damping ring. Using a dedicated diagnostic beamline with an x-ray scintillator imaging system, measurements of the transverse beamsize are made, and bunch length measurements are made using an optical streak camera. Emittance growth as a function of bunch current is determined, and compared with preliminary calculation estimates