On the possibility of realizing shortest bunches in low-energy storage rings

For some very interesting experiments in future low-energy storage rings it is highly desirable to realize ultrashort bunches in the nanosecond regime. These bunches could then be used for collision studies with atomic or molecular gas jet targets where the time structure of the bunches would be used as a trigger for the experiment. Thus, the control of the longitudinal time structure of the stored beam is of central importance since it directly determines the quality of the envisaged experiments. Over many years, it has been a significant challenge for the storage ring accelerator physics community to develop techniques to reduce the duration of bunches. Up to now, all methods that have been developed go along with various difficulties, which can include reduced stored-beam lifetimes. Thus, novel and innovative concepts for the manipulation and control of the longitudinal beam structure will have to be developed. In this paper, a possible approach to realize shortest bunches in an electrostatic storage ring is presented.