Megavolt InTense High-gradient Research Accelerator (MITHRA)

An electron linear accelerator test facility located on UCLA's southwest campus in Westwood, MITHRA, is presently being constructed. A RF-based accelerator consists of a compact, 3 MeV S-band hybrid gun capable of velocity bunching to bunch lengths in the 100s fs range with 100s pC of charge. This beam is accelerated by an 1.5 m S-band linac with a peak output energy of 30 MeV which can be directed to either a secondary beamline or remain on the main beamline for final acceleration by a SLAC 3m S-band linac to an energy of 80 MeV. Further acceleration by advanced boosters such as a cryo-cooled C-band structure or numerous optical or wakefield methods is under active investigation. In combination with a 3 TW Ti:Sapphire laser, initial proof of principle experiments will be conducted on topics including the ultra-compact xray free-electron laser, advanced dielectric wakefield acceleration, bi-harmonic nonlinear inverse Compton scattering, and various radiation detectors. Furthermore, development of a tertiary beamline based on an ultra low emittance, cryo-cooled gun will eventually enable two-beam experiments, expanding the facility's unique experimental capabilities.

S-Band Hybrid Gun Commissioning