A Particle-in-cell scheme of the RFQ in the SSC-Linac

A 52 MHz Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) linear accelerator (linac) is designed to serve as an initial structure for the SSC-Linac system (injector into Separated Sector Cyclotron). The designed injection and output energy are 3.5 keV/u and 143 keV/u, respectively. The beam dynamics in this RFQ have been studied using a three-dimensional Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code BEAMPATH. Simulation results show that this R,FQ structure is characterized by stable values of beam transmission efficiency (at least 95%) for both zero-current mode and the space charge dominated regime. The beam accelerated in the RFQ has good quality in both transverse and longitudinal directions, and could easily be accepted by Drift Tube Linac (DTL). The effect of the vane error and that of the space charge on the beam parameters have been studied as well to define the engineering tolerance for RFQ vane machining and alignment.