High intensity ion beams in rf undulator linac

The possibility of using a radio frequency undulator field to accelerate a high intensity ion beam in a linac is discussed. Such an accelerator can be realized using the periodical interdigital H-type resonator structure. The accelerating force is produced by an electric field which is a combination of two or more spatial harmonics, none of them being synchronous with the ion beam. The value of this force is proportional to the squared charge. The equations of motion in Hamiltonian form are derived by means of smooth approximation. The analysis of the 3D effective potential function allows finding the conditions of the beam focusing and acceleration. Two ways to increase ion beam intensity are considered: (i) to enlarge beam cross section; (ii) to neutralize the beam space charge by accelerating ions with opposite charge signs within the same bunch. The basic results are confirmed by a numerical simulation.