Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Penn, G.
We report on on-going studies of a superconducting CW linac driver intended to support a high repetition rate FEL operating in the soft x-rays spectrum. We present a pointdesign for a 1.8 GeV machine tuned for 300 pC bunches and delivering low-emittance, low-energy spread beams as needed for the SASE and seeded beamlines.
The Next Generation Light Source (NGLS) is a design concept, under development at LBNL, for a multibeamline soft x-ray FEL array powered by a ~;;2 GeV superconducting linear accelerator, operating with a 1 MHz bunch repetition rate. The CW superconducting linear accelerator is supplied by a high-brightness, highrepetition- rate photocathode electron gun. Electron bunches are distributed from the linac to the array of independently configurable FEL beamlines with nominal bunch rates up to 100 kHz in each FEL, and with even pulse spacing. Individual FELs may be configured for EEHG, HGHG, SASE, or oscillator mode of operation, and will produce high peak and average brightness x-rays with a flexible pulse format, with pulse durations ranging from sub-femtoseconds to hundreds of femtoseconds.
The consequences of beam conditioning in four example cases [VISA, a soft x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), LCLS, and a 'Greenfield' FEL] are examined. It is shown that in emittance limited cases, proper conditioning reduces sensitivity to the transverse emittance and, furthermore, allows for stronger focusing in the undulator. Simulations show higher saturation power, with gain lengths reduced by a factor of 2 or more. The beam dynamics in a general conditioning system are studied, with 'matching conditions' derived for achieving conditioning without growth in the effective emittance. Various conditioning lattices are considered, and expressions derived for the amount of conditioning provided in each case when the matching conditions are satisfied. These results show that there is no fundamental obstacle to producing beam conditioning, and that the problem can be reduced to one of proper lattice design. Nevertheless, beam conditioning will not be easy to implement in practice.