We have performed a series of experiments at Fermilab to explore the electron cloud phenomenon. The Main Injector will have its beam intensity increased four-fold in the Project X upgrade, and would be subject to instabilities from the electron cloud. We present measurements of the cloud formation in the Main Injector and experiments with materials for the mitigation of the Cloud. An experimental installation of Titanium-Nitride (TiN) coated beam pipes has been under study in the Main Injector since 2009; this material was directly compared to an adjacent stainless chamber through electron cloud measurement with Retarding Field Analyzers (RFAs). Over the long period of running we were able to observe the secondary electron yield (SEY) change and correlate it with electron fluence, establishing a conditioning history. Additionally, the installation has allowed measurement of the electron energy spectrum, comparison of instrumentation techniques, and energydependent behavior of the electron cloud. Finally, a new installation, developed in conjunction with Cornell and SLAC, will allow direct SEY measurement of material samples irradiated in the accelerator.

This thesis presents profound insights into the origins and dynamics of beam instabilities using both experimental observations and numerical simulations. When the Recycler Ring, a high-intensity proton beam accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, was commissioned, it became evident that the Recycler beam experiences a very fast instability of unknown nature. This instability was so fast that the existing dampers were ineffective at suppressing it. The nature of this phenomenon, alongside several other poorly understood features of the beam, became one of the biggest puzzles in the accelerator community. The author investigated a hypothesis that the instability arises from an interaction with a dense cloud of electrons accompanying the proton beam. He studied the phenomena experimentally by comparing the dynamics of stable and unstable beams, by numerically simulating the build-up of the electron cloud and its interaction with the beam, and by constructing an analytical model of an electron cloud-driven instability with the electrons trapped in combined-function dipole magnets. He has devised a method to stabilize the beam by a clearing bunch, which conclusively revealed that the instability is caused by the electron cloud, trapped in a strong magnetic field. Finally, he conducted measurements of the microwave propagation through a single dipole magnet. These measurements have confirmed the presence of the electron cloud in combined-function magnets.

Simulations of the Fermilab Booster reveal a substantial electron-cloud buildup both inside the unshielded combined-function magnets and the beam pipes joining the magnets, when the second-emission yield (SEY) is larger than (almost equal to)1.6. The implication of the electron-cloud effects on space charge and collective instabilities of the beam is discussed.

An electron cloud instability might limit the intensity in the Fermilab Recycler after the PIP-II upgrade. A multibunch instability typically develops in the horizontal plane within a hundred turns and, in certain conditions, leads to beam loss. Recent studies have indicated that the instability is caused by an electron cloud, trapped in the Recycler index dipole magnets. We developed an analytical model of an electron cloud driven instability with the electrons trapped in combined function dipoles. The resulting instability growth rate of about 30 revolutions is consistent with experimental observations and qualitatively agrees with the simulation in the PEI code. The model allows an estimation of the instability rate for the future intensity upgrades.

The electrostatic particle-in-cell codeWARP is currently being expanded in order to study electron cloud effects on the dynamics of the beam in storage rings. Results for the Fermilab main injector (MI) show the existence of a threshold in the electron density beyond which there is rapid emittance growth. The Fermilab MI is being considered for an upgrade as part of the high intensity neutrino source (HINS) effort, which will result in a significant increasing of the bunch intensity relative to its present value, placing it in a regime where electron-cloud effects are expected to become important. Various results from the simulations using WARP are discussed here.