Experimental Study of the Effect of Beam Loading on RF Breakdown Rate in CLIC High-Gradient Accelerating Structures

RF breakdown is a key issue for the multi-TeV highluminosity e+e- Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). Breakdowns in the high-gradient accelerator structures can deflect the beam and decrease the desired luminosity. The limitations of the accelerating structures due to breakdowns have been studied so far without a beam present in the structure. The presence of the beam modifies the distribution of the electrical and magnetic field distributions, which determine the breakdown rate. Therefore an experiment has been designed for high power testing a CLIC prototype accelerating structure with a beam present in the CLIC Test Facility (CTF3). A special beam line allows extracting a beam with nominal CLIC beam current and duration from the CTF3 linac. The paper describes the beam optics design for this experimental beam line and the commissioning of the experiment with beam.