Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator conceptual design report

This document presents the scientific justification and the conceptual design for the open-quotes Next Linear Collider Test Acceleratorclose quotes (NLCTA) at SLAC. The goals of the NLCTA are to integrate the new technologies of X-band accelerator structures and rf systems being developed for the Next Linear Collider, to measure the growth of the open-quotes dark currentclose quotes generated by rf field emission in the accelerator, to demonstrate multi-bunch beam-loading energy compensation and suppression of higher-order deflecting modes, and to measure any transverse components of the accelerating field. The NLCTA will be a 42-meter-long beam line consisting, consecutively, of a thermionic-cathode gun, an X-band buncher, a magnetic chicane, six 1.8-meter-long sections of 11.4-GHz accelerator structure, and a magnetic spectrometer. Initially, the unloaded accelerating gradient will be 50 MV/m. A higher-gradient upgrade option eventually would increase the unloaded gradient to 100 MV/m