C. F. Papadopoulos

Schemes and challenges for electron injectors operating in high repetition rate X-ray FELs

Requirements and challenges for high-brightness electron injectors operating in a high-repetition-rate X-ray FEL are described. Schemes presently under development or study are reviewed, and their advantages and limitations are compared. Beam dynamics and engineering/technological aspects are addressed, with a particular emphasis placed on how the high-repetition-rate requirement impacts the choice of cathodes and of gun/accelerator technologies, and on how those choices consequently impact beam dynamics.

Tests of photocathodes for high repetition rate x-ray FELs at the APEX facility at LBNL

After the formidable results of X-ray 4th generation light sources based on free electron lasers around the world, a new revolutionary step is undergoing to extend the FEL performance from the present few hundred Hz to MHz-class repetition rates. In such facilities, temporally equi-spaced pulses will allow for a wide range of previously non-accessible experiments. The Advanced Photo-injector EXperiment (APEX) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), is devoted to test the capability of a novel scheme electron source, the VHF-Gun, to generate the required electron beam brightness at MHz repetition rates. In linac-based FELs, the ultimate performance in terms of brightness is defined at the injector, and in particular, cathodes play a major role in the game. Part of the APEX program consists in testing high quantum efficiency photocathodes capable to operate at the conditions required by such challenging machines. Results and status of these tests at LBNL are presented.

Simulation study on the emittance compensation of off-axis emitted beam in RF photoinjector*

To make full use of photocathode material and improve its quantum efficiency lifetime, it can be necessary to operate laser away from the cathode center in photoinjectors. In RF guns, the off-axis emitted beam will see a time-dependent RF effect, which would generate a significant growth in transverse emittance. It has been demonstrated that such an emittance growth can be almost completely compensated by orienting the beam on a proper orbit in the downstream RF cavities along the injector. In this paper we analyze in detail the simulation techniques used in reference[1] and the issues associated with them. The optimization of photoinjector systems involving off-axis beams is a challenging problem. To solve this problem, one needs advanced simulation tools including both genetic algorithms and an efficient algorithm for 3D space charge. In this paper, we report on simulation studies where the two codes ASTRA and IMPACT-T are used jointly to overcome these challenges, in order to optimize a system designed to compensate for the emittance growth in a beam emitted off axis.

APEX Present Experimental Results

The APEX electron source at LBNL combines highrepetition-rate and high beam brightness typical of photoguns, delivering low emittance electron pulses at MHz frequency. Proving the high beam quality of the beam is an essential step for the success of the experiment. It would enable high repetition rate operations for brightness-hungry applications such as X-Ray FELs, and MHz ultrafast electron diffraction. A full 6D characterization of the beam phase space at the gun beam energy (750 keV) is foreseen in the first phase of the project. Diagnostics for low and high current measurements have been installed and tested, measuring the performances of different cathode materials in a RF environment with mA average current. A double-slit system allows the characterization of beam emittance at high charge and full current (mA). An rf deflecting cavity is being installed, and a high precision spectrometer allow the characterization of the longitudinal phase space. Here we present the latest results at low and high repetition rate, discussing the tools and techniques used.