Rf-driver linear colliders

The next generation of linear collider after the SLC (Stanford Linear Collider) will probably have an energy in the range 300 GeV-1 TeV per linac. A number of exotic accelerating schemes, such as laser and plasma acceleration, have been proposed for linear colliders of the far future. However, the technology which is most mature and which could lead to a collider in the above energy range in the relatively near future is the rf-driven linac, in which externally produced rf is fed into a more or less conventional metallic accelerating structure. Two basic technologies have been proposed for producing the required high peak rf power: discrete microwave power sources, and various two-beam acceleration schemes in which the rf is produced by a high current driving beam running parallel to the main accelerator. The current status of experimental and analytic work on both the discrete source and the two-beam methods for producing rf are discussed. The implications of beam-beam related effects (luminosity, disruption and beamstrahlung) for the design of rf-driven linear colliders are also considered