Stability of electron energy in the Fermilab electron cooler

A powerful electron beam (4.3 MeV, 0.1 A DC) generated by an electrostatic accelerator has been used at Fermilab for three years to cool antiprotons in the Recycler ring. For electron cooling to be effective, the electron energy should not deviate from its optimum value by more than 500V. The main tool for studying the energy stability is the electron beam position in a high-dispersion area. The energy ripple (frequencies above 0.2 Hz) was found to be less than 150 eV rms; the main cause of the ripple is the fluctuations of the chain current. In addition, the energy can drift to up to several keV that is traced to two main sources. One of them is a drift of the charging current, and another is a temperature dependence of generating voltmeter readings. The paper describes the efforts to reach the required level of stability as well as the setup, diagnostics, results of measurements, and operational experience