Collimation Studies with Hollow Electron Beams

Recent experimental studies at the Fermilab Tevatron collider have shown that magnetically confined hollow electron beams can act as a new kind of collimator for high-intensity beams in storage rings. In a hollow electron beam collimator, electrons enclose the circulating beam. Their electric charge kicks halo particles transversely. If their distribution is axially symmetric, the beam core is unaffected. This device is complementary to conventional two-stage collimation systems: the electron beam can be placed arbitrarily close to the circulating beam; and particle removal is smooth, so that the device is a diffusion enhancer rather than a hard aperture limitation. The concept was tested in the Tevatron collider using a hollow electron gun installed in one of the existing electron lenses. We describe some of the technical aspects of hollow-beam scraping and the results of recent measurements