Laser-assisted H^{-} charge exchange injection in magnetic fields

Abstract

The use of stripping foils for charge exchange injection can cause a number of operational problems in high intensity hadron accelerators. A recently proposed three-step method of laser-assisted injection is capable of overcoming these problems. This paper presents advances in the physical model of laser-assisted charge exchange injection of H^{-} beams and covers a wide field of atomic physics. The model allows the calculation of the evolution of an H^{0} beam taking into account spontaneous emission, field ionization, and external electromagnetic fields. Some new data on the hydrogen atom related to the problem are calculated. The numerical calculations in the model use realistic descriptions of laser field and injection beam. Generally, the model can be used for design and optimization of a laser-assisted injection cell within an accelerator lattice. Example calculations of laser-assisted injection for an intermediate experiment at SNS in Oak Ridge and for the PS2 accelerator at CERN are presented. Two different schemes, distinctively characterized by various magnetic fields at the excitation point, are discussed. It was shown that the emittance growth of an injected beam can be drastically decreased by moving the excitation point into a strong magnetic field.