CLIC Main Linac Beam-Loading Compensation by Drive Beam Phase Modulation

The CLIC final focus momentum acceptance of ± 0.5 % limits the bunch-to-bunch energy variation in the main beam to less than ± 0.1 %, since the estimated single-bunch contribution is ± 0.4 %. On the other hand, a relatively high beam-loading of the main accelerating structures (about 16 %) is unavoidable in order to optimize the RF-to-beam efficiency. Therefore, a compensation method is needed to reduce the resulting bunch-to-bunch energy spread of the main beam. Up to now, it has been planned to obtain the RF pulse shape needed for compensation by means of a charge ramp in the drive beam pulse. On the other hand, the use of constant-current drive beam pulses would make the design and operation of the drive beam injector considerably simpler. In this paper we present a possible solution adapted to the CLIC two-beam scheme with constant-current pulses, based on phase modulation of the drive beam bunches.