What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to design and test a corrugated waveguide for efficient wakefield acceleration at sub-terahertz frequencies.

February 2, 2026Open Access

A W-band corrugated waveguide for high-efficiency high-gradient wakefield acceleration

Key Points

The study aims to design and test a corrugated waveguide for efficient wakefield acceleration at sub-terahertz frequencies.
Designed a metallic corrugated waveguide for operation at 110 GHz.
Conducted tests at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator using an emittance exchange beamline.
Evaluated high decelerating gradients with a single short drive bunch.
Developed a two-bunch configuration with a triangularly shaped drive bunch and a long witness bunch.
Achieved good agreement between experimental results and simulation predictions.
Demonstrated the potential for high decelerating gradients.
Observed a high transformer ratio in the two-bunch scheme.

Abstract

Compact RF structures in the sub-terahertz regime are promising for structure wakefield acceleration due to their ability in achieving high gradients in a reduced footprint. We report on the design, fabrication, and testing of a metallic corrugated waveguide operating at 110 GHz, tailored to the 42 MeV electron beam parameters at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator (AWA). The experiment utilized the emittance exchange (EEX) beamline at AWA for longitudinal bunch shaping in two configurations: (1) a single short drive bunch to study high decelerating gradients, and (2) a two-bunch scheme featuring a triangularly shaped drive bunch followed by a long witness bunch to probe the wakefield and achieve a high transformer ratio. We will present the experimental design and results, which show good agreement with simulation predictions.

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