AcknowledgmentsThis design for the Next Linear Collider (NLC) relies heavily on the first h e a r collider-the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC)-and on all the people who proposed, designed, and commissioned this pioneering accelerator. Without their work, none of this would have been possible (or necessary). In addition, the design owes much to the extensive international research effort that is investigating the different technological paths to a future linear collider. Finally, the NLC Design Group is a list of people, authors and non-authors, who have contributed significantly to this design; our apology in advance to anyone whose name may have inadvertantly been omitted.In the process of completing this "Zeroth-Order Design" for the NLC, we have held two internal reviews and, more recently, an international external review. All of these have been very important to the design and we thank all of those who assisted. In particular, we thank the members of the external review panel which consisted of: Gerry Dugan, Helen Edwards, Hans J?rischholz, David Gurd, Tom Himel, Steve Holmes, Norbert Holtkamp, John Ives, Robert Jameson, Katsunobu Oide, Satoshi Ozaki, John Rees, Nobu Toge. A number of useful comments were made, some of which already have been incorporated into the design. Most members of the internal review committees are listed in the contributors list; additional useful suggestions were given by H. DeStaebler, J.T. Seeman
PrefaceThis "Zeroth-Order Design Report" (ZDR) for the Next Linear Collider (NLC) is being created at a time of both great opportunity and uncertainty in the future directions that w i l l be taken by the world-wide community of high-energy physics. There is exciting news that the Large Hadron Collider project has been approved for construction at CERN, and the planned involvement by physicists and engineers from countries around the globe will make this the first accelerator to be designed and built by a truly world-wide collaboration. By contrast, the cancellation of the SSC has demonstrated the necessity of international collaboration on such large scientific projects. The community of scientists and engineers at work on the accelerator physics and technologies of high-energy electron-positron colliders has recognized this need, and has made concerted effort to coordinate research activities to optimize our combined understanding and knowledge. This ZDR is one further step in this process.The first electron-positron linear collider, the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC), began operation in 1989 with the dual purpose to explore the particle physics of the Zo boson and to develop the accelerator physics needed for a future TeV-scale linear collider. The SLC program has proven to be quite successful on both counts. Experiences gained and lessons learned from this prototype collider are a firm foundation for the design and implementation of a next generation machine. Developments at laboratories around the world have led to several choices of technologies to efficiently accelerate...