Steven M. Lidia

A recirculating linac-based facility for ultrafast x-ray science

We present an updated design for a proposed source of ultra-fast synchrotron radiation pulses based on a recirculating superconducting linac, in particular the incorporation of EUV and soft x-ray production. The project has been named LUX - Linac-based Ultrafast X-ray facility. The source produces intense x-ray pulses with duration of 10-100 fs at a 10 kHz repetition rate, with synchronization of 10s fs, optimized for the study of ultra-fast dynamics. The photon range covers the EUV to hard x-ray spectrum by use of seeded harmonic generation in undulators, and a specialized technique for ultra-short-pulse photon production in the 1-10 keV range. High-brightness rf photocathodes produce electron bunches which are optimized either for coherent emission in free-electron lasers, or to provide a large x/y emittance ration and small vertical emittance which allows for manipulation to produce short-pulse hard x-rays. An injector linac accelerates the beam to 120 MeV, and is followed by four passes through a 600-720 MeV recirculating linac. We outline the major technical components of the proposed facility.

Short intense ion pulses for materials and warm dense matter research

We have commenced experiments with intense short pulses of ion beams on the Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment-II at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, by generating beam spots size with radius r<1 mm within 2 ns FWHM and approximately 1010 ions/pulse. To enable the short pulse durations and mm-scale focal spot radii, the 1.2 MeV Li+ ion beam is neutralized in a 1.6-meter drift compression section located after the last accelerator magnet. An 8-Tesla short focal length solenoid compresses the beam in the presence of the large volume plasma near the end of this section before the target. The scientific topics to be explored are warm dense matter, the dynamics of radiation damage in materials, and intense beam and beam-plasma physics including selected topics of relevance to the development of heavy-ion drivers for inertial fusion energy. Finally, we describe the accelerator commissioning and time-resolved ionoluminescence measurements of yttrium aluminum perovskite using the fully integrated accelerator and neutralized drift compression components.

Recent improvements to the astra particle trackingcode

The Astra simulation code has been successfully used in the design of linac and rf photoinjector systems utilizing beams with azimuthal symmetry. We present recently implemented changes to Astra that allow tracking of beams in beamlines without the assumption of any symmetry. The changes especially include a 3D mesh space charge algorithm and the possibility to import 3D electromagnetic fieldmaps from eigensolver programs.

Design Studies for a High-Repetition-Rate FEL Facility at LBNL

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is working to address the needs of the primary scientific Grand Challenges now being considered by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences: we are exploring scientific discovery opportunities, and new areas of science, to be unlocked with the use of advanced photon sources. A partnership of several divisions at LBNL is working to define the science and instruments needed in the future. To meet these needs, we propose a seeded, high-repetition-rate, free-electron laser (FEL) facility. Temporally and spatially coherent photon pulses, of controlled duration ranging from picosecond to sub-femtosecond, are within reach in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) to soft X-ray regime, and LBNL is developing critical accelerator physics and technologies toward this goal. We envision a facility with an array of FELs, each independently configurable and tunable, providing a range of photon-beam properties with high average and peak flux and brightness.

The LBNL femtosource (LUX) 10 kHz photoinjector

The LBNL femtosecond-level X-ray source, now christened LUX, a source of hard X-rays with a pulse length in the 50-200 fsec range, will operate at a pulse rate of up to 10 kHz. The room-temperature 1.3 GHz photoinjector includes a modified re-entrant first-cell cavity which minimizes peak surface field, the addition of a third pi-mode acceleration cell, waveguide r.f. feeds to each cell, and an active energy removal procedure which reduces the wall power density of all four cells.

An Ultra-Bright Pulsed Electron Beam with Low Longitudinal Emittance

Most existing electron sources extract electrons from conductors. Since the actual temperature inside the conductor is much less than the Fermi temperature of the conduction electrons, the electron degeneracy δfis close to 1, the maximum allowed by the Pauli exclusion principle. However, during extraction several factors conspire together to reduce δfmany orders of magnitude, limiting the achieved values to ≈ 10−5. A new concept is described for building a novel electron source designed to produce a pulsed beam with δf≈ 2 10−3and longitudinal emittance four orders of magnitude smaller than currently achieved values. This high brightness, low longitudinal emittance regime enables a wide range of novel applications that utilize angstrom-scale spatial resolution and eV-scale energy resolution. The current state of a proof-of-principle experiment conducted at LBNL is also described.

Angular momentum measurement of the FNPL electron beam

In the flat beam experiment at Fermilab/NICADD Photoinjector Laboratory(FNPL), it is essential to have a nonvanishing longitudinal magnetic field on the photocathode. The canonical angular momentum of the electron beam generated by this magnetic field is an important parameter in understanding the round to flat beam transformation. In this paper, we report our measurements of the canonical angular momentum, which is directly related to the skew diagonal elements of the beam matrix before beam is made flat. The measurements of the other elements of the beam matrix are also reported.

Flat beam production in low energy injectors

A source of ultra-fast synchrotron radiation pulses based on a recirculating superconducting linac is proposed at LBNL. A flat beam will be produced in the low energy phase. High-brightness photocathode rf gun will produce electron beams in a solenoidal magnetic field. The electron beam will be transformed into flat beam with a large x/y emittance ratio by a skew-quadrupole-sequence adaptor. A theoretical model is shown and simulations have been done with PARMELA. Space charge effect and possible solenoid setup are reported

Technical Design and Optimization Study for the FERMI@Elettra FELPhotoinjector

ST/F-TN-06/11 LBNL - 60725 Technical Design and Optimization Study for the FERMI@Elettra FEL Photoinjector Steve Lidia (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Giuseppe Penco, Mauro Trovo’ (Sincrotrone Trieste) Introduction The FERMI @ Elettra FEL project will provide a novel, x-ray free electron laser user facility at Sincrotrone Trieste based on seeded and cascade FEL techniques. The electron beam source and injector systems play a crucial role in the success of the facility by providing the highest quality electron beams to the linac and FEL undulators. This Technical Note examines the critical technology components that make up the injector system, and demonstrates optimum beam dynamics solutions to achieve the required high quality electron beams. Section 2 provides an overview of the various systems and subsystems that comprise the photoinjector. The different operating modes of the injector are described as they pertain to the different linac configurations driven by the FEL and experimental design. For each mode, the required electron beam parameters are given. Sections 3 and 4 describe the critical beamline elements in the injector complex: the photocathode and drive laser, and the RF gun. The required drive laser parameters are given at the end of Section 3. Additional details on the design of the photoinjector drive laser systems are presented in a separate Technical Note. Design considerations for the RF gun are extensively presented in Section 4. There, we describe the variation of the cavity geometry to optimize the efficiency of the energy transfer to the electron beam. A study of the power coupling into the various cavity modes that interact within the bandwidth of the RF drive pulse is presented, followed by a study of the transient cavity response under several models and, finally, the effects on extracted beam quality. Section 5 describes the initial design for the low energy, off-axis diagnostic beamline. Beam dynamics simulations using ASTRA, elegant , and MAD are presented. Section 6 presents the optimization studies for the beam dynamics in the various operating modes. The optimized baseline configurations for the beamline and incident drive laser pulse are presented, supported by simulation results from space-charge tracking codes. Optimization of the beam transport through the downstream linac to the FEL undulator entrance requires significant deviations from the canonical ‘flat-top’ temporal laser pulse distribution at the photocathode. The physics of nonlinear electron current emission are examined to determine the optimum temporal profile of the drive

R&D Requirements, RF Gun Mode Studies, FEL-2 Steady-StateStudies, Preliminary FEL-1 Time-Dependent Studies, and Preliminary LayoutOption Investigation

This report constitutes the third deliverable of LBNLs contracted role in the FERMI {at} Elettra Technical Optimization study. It describes proposed R&D activities for the baseline design of the Technical Optimization Study, initial studies of the RF gun mode-coupling and potential effects on beam dynamics, steady-state studies of FEL-2 performance to 10 nm, preliminary studies of time-dependent FEL-1 performance using electron bunch distribution from the start-to-end studies, and a preliminary investigation of a configuration with FEL sinclined at a small angle from the line of the linac.