Single-bunch beam loading on the SLAC two-mile accelerator

The experiments described were initially prompted by interest in the radiation loss of relativistic electron rings passing through periodic structures. Later, the same experiments became relevant to the theory of energy loss of electrons in large storage rings. In both of these cases, energy loss to the higher order modes of the respective structures could seriously limit their effective operation as acceleration devices. In these experiments, single bunches of electrons with intensities up to 7 x 108 electrons per bunch are accelerated through the SLAC three-kilometer accelerator, and their energy spectra are analyzed. Early experiments over a wide energy range (900 MeV to 19 GeV) demonstrated that the energy loss was proportional to the total charge in the bunch but was independent of beam energy. The average energy loss of a single bunch normalized to 109 electrons was initially measured to be 38 MeV. The experiments, including much of the equipment development, are described and are compared with theoretical predictions made to date