Magnetic Chicane Research Articles

Design of a large acceptance, high efficiency energy selection system for the ELIMAIA beam-line

A magnetic chicane based on four electromagnetic dipoles is going to be realized by INFN-LNS to be used as an Energy Selection System (ESS) for laser driven proton beams up to 300 MeV and C6+ up to 70 MeV/u. The system will provide, as output, ion beams with a contrallable energy spread varying from 5% up to 20% according to the aperture slit size. Moreover, it has a very wide acceptance in order to ensure a very high transmission efficiency and, in principle, it has been designed to be used also as an active energy modulator. This system is the core element of the ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical and Multidisciplinary applications) beam transport, dosimetry and irradiation line that will be developed by INFN-LNS (It) and installed at the ELI-Beamlines facility in Prague (Cz). ELIMED will be the first user's open transport beam-line where a controlled laser-driven ion beam will be used for multidisciplinary research. The definition of well specified characteristics, both in terms of performance and field quality, of the magnetic chicane is crucial for the system realization, for the accurate study of the beam dynamics and for the proper matching with the Permanent Magnet Quadrupoles (PMQs) used as a collection system already designed. Here, the design of the magnetic chicane is described in details together with the adopted solutions in order to realize a robust system form the magnetic point of view. Moreover, the first preliminary transport simulations are also described showing the good performance of the whole beam line (PMQs+ESS).

Two-color beam generation based on wakefield excitation

Several beam manipulation methods have been studied and experimentally tested to generate two-color photon beams in free electron laser facilities to accommodate the user requests. We propose to use the interaction of the beam with an oscillating longitudinal wakefield source to obtain a suitable electron beam structure. The bunch generates two subpulses with different energies and delayed in time passing through a magnetic chicane after its longitudinal phase space has been modulated by the wakefield source. According to this approach the power of the emitted radiation is not degraded compared to the monochromatic beam, and the setup in the machine is quite simple because the bunch is manipulated only in the high energy section, where it is more rigid. We present the design applied to SwissFEL. We identified the parameters and the corresponding range of tunability of the time and energy separation among the two subbunches.

Sub-fs electron bunch generation with sub-10-fs bunch arrival-time jitter via bunch slicing in a magnetic chicane

The generation of ultrashort electron bunches with ultrasmall bunch arrival-time jitter is of vital importance for laser-plasma wakefield acceleration with external injection. We study the production of 100-MeV electron bunches with bunch durations of subfemtosecond (fs) and bunch arrival-time jitters of less than 10 fs, in an S-band photoinjector by using a weak magnetic chicane with a slit collimator. The beam dynamics inside the chicane is simulated by using two codes with different self-force models. The first code separates the self-force into a three-dimensional (3D) quasistatic space-charge model and a one-dimensional coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) model, while the other one starts from the first principle with a so-called 3D sub-bunch method. The simulations indicate that the CSR effect dominates the horizontal emittance growth and the 1D CSR model underestimates the final bunch duration and emittance because of the very large transverse-to-longitudinal aspect ratio of the sub-fs bunch. Particularly, the CSR effect is also strongly affected by the vertical bunch size. Due to the coupling between the horizontal and longitudinal phase spaces, the bunch duration at the entrance of the last dipole magnet of the chicane is still significantly longer than that at the exit of the chicane, which considerably mitigates the impact of space charge and CSR effects on the beam quality. Exploiting this effect, a bunch charge of up to 4.8 pC in a sub-fs bunch could be simulated. In addition, we analytically and numerically investigate the impact of different jitter sources on the bunch arrival-time jitter downstream of the chicane, and define the tolerance budgets assuming realistic values of the stability of the linac for different bunch charges and compression schemes.

Undulator beamline optimization with integrated chicanes for X-ray free-electron-laser facilities.

An optimization of the undulator layout of X-ray free-electron-laser (FEL) facilities based on placing small chicanes between the undulator modules is presented. The installation of magnetic chicanes offers the following benefits with respect to state-of-the-art FEL facilities: reduction of the required undulator length to achieve FEL saturation, improvement of the longitudinal coherence of the FEL pulses, and the ability to produce shorter FEL pulses with higher power levels. Numerical simulations performed for the soft X-ray beamline of the SwissFEL facility show that optimizing the advantages of the layout requires shorter undulator modules than the standard ones. This proposal allows a very compact undulator beamline that produces fully coherent FEL pulses and it makes possible new kinds of experiments that require very short and high-power FEL pulses.

Tunable High-Intensity Electron Bunch Train Production Based on Nonlinear Longitudinal Space Charge Oscillation.

High-intensity trains of electron bunches with tunable picosecond spacing are produced and measured experimentally with the goal of generating terahertz (THz) radiation. By imposing an initial density modulation on a relativistic electron beam and controlling the charge density over the beam propagation, density spikes of several-hundred-ampere peak current in the temporal profile, which are several times higher than the initial amplitudes, have been observed for the first time. We also demonstrate that the periodic spacing of the bunch train can be varied continuously either by tuning launching phase of a radio-frequency gun or by tuning the compression of a downstream magnetic chicane. Narrow-band coherent THz radiation from the bunch train was also measured with μJ-level energies and tunable central frequency of the spectrum in the range of ∼0.5 to 1.6THz. Our results pave the way towards generating mJ-level narrow-band coherent THz radiation and driving high-gradient wakefield-based acceleration.

A hybrid approach for generating ultra-short bunches for advanced accelerator applications

Generation of electron beams with high phase-space density, short bunch length and high peak current is an essential requirement for future linear colliders and bright electron beam sources. Unfortunately, such bunches cannot be produced directly from the source since forces from the mutual repulsion of electrons would destroy the brilliance of the beam within a short distance. Here, we detail a beam dynamics study of a two-stage compression scheme that can generate ultra-short bunches without degrading the beam quality. In the first stage, a magnetized beam is compressed with a velocity bunching technique in which the longitudinal phase space is rotated so that electrons on the bunch tail become faster than electrons in the bunch head. In the second stage, the beam is further compressed with a magnetic chicane. With the aid of numerical simulations we show that our two-staged scheme is capable to increase the current of a 50pC bunch by a notable factor of 100 (from 15A to 1.5kA) while the emittance growth can be suppressed to 1% with appropriate tailoring of the initial beam distribution.

Measurements and simulations of seeded electron microbunches with collective effects

Measurements of the longitudinal phase-space distributions of electron bunches seeded with an external laser were done in order to study the impact of collective effects on seeded microbunches in free-electron lasers. When the collective effects of Coulomb forces in a drift space and coherent synchrotron radiation in a chicane are considered, velocity bunching of a seeded microbunch appears to be a viable alternative to compression with a magnetic chicane under high-gain harmonic generation seeding conditions. Measurements of these effects on seeded electron microbunches were performed with a rf deflecting structure and a dipole magnet which streak out the electron bunch for single-shot images of the longitudinal phase-space distribution. Particle tracking simulations in 3D predicted the compression dynamics of the seeded microbunches with collective effects.

Beam dynamics design of the Compact Linear Collider Drive Beam injector

In the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) the RF power for the acceleration of the Main Beam is extracted from a high-current Drive Beam that runs parallel to the main linac. The longitudinal and transverse beam dynamics of the Drive Beam injector has been studied in detail and optimized. The injector consists of a thermionic gun followed by a bunching system, some accelerating structures, and a magnetic chicane. The bunching system contains three sub-harmonic bunchers, a prebuncher, and a traveling wave buncher all embedded in a solenoidal magnetic field. The main characteristic of the Drive Beam injector is the phase coding process done by the sub-harmonic bunching system operating at half the acceleration frequency. This process is essential for the frequency multiplication of the Drive Beam. During the phase coding process the unwanted satellite bunches are produced that adversely affects the machine power efficiency. The main challenge is to reduce the population of particles in the satellite bunches in the presence of strong space-charge forces due to the high beam current. The simulation of the beam dynamics has been carried out with parmela with the goal of optimizing the injector performance compared to the existing model studied for the Conceptual Design Report (CDR). The emphasis of the optimization was on decreasing the satellite population, the beam loss in the magnetic chicane and limiting the beam emittance growth in transverse plane.

A non-conventional ERL configuration for high-power EUV FELs

We show that a standard Linac configuration (consisting of accelerating sections, linearizing section, and magnetic chicane compressor) currently used in drivers for single-pass EUV/x-ray FELs is compatible with energy recovery, provided that certain timing constraints are met. By circulating the spent, rather than the fresh beam as in a conventional high-power ERL FEL design, the beam brightness can be more easily preserved thus facilitating lasing at short wavelength. As in a conventional ERL, the proposed design allows for energy-spread compression, enabling low-energy beam dumping and high energy-recovery efficiency. Results from numerical simulations presented in this paper show that this configuration could, in principle, support the generation of multi-kW average radiation power required for high-volume production EUV lithography.

Microbunching instability suppression via electron-magnetic-phase mixing.

Control of the microbunching instability is a fundamental requirement in modern high-brightness electron linacs, in order to prevent misleading responses of beam optical diagnostics and contamination in the generation of coherent radiation, such as free electron lasers. We present the first experimental demonstration of control and suppression of microbunching instability by means of particles' longitudinal phase mixing in a magnetic chicane. In the presence of phase mixing, the intensity of the beam-emitted optical transition radiation, which is used as an indicator of the instability gain at optical wavelengths, is reduced by one order of magnitude and brought to the same level provided, alternatively, by beam heating. The experimental results are in agreement with particle tracking and analytical evaluations of the instability gain. This article is extended to a discussion of applications of magnetic-phase mixing to the generation of quasicold high-brightness ultrarelativistic electron beams.

Interference effects in super-radiant THz sources

A new class of linear accelerator (linac) based THz facilities, aiming to provide peak THz fields in the GV/m regime from highly charged, ultra-short relativistic electron bunches is currently studied and developed worldwide. These facilities are based on low emittance, electron beams delivered by a linear radio frequency (RF) driven accelerator followed by one or several magnetic chicanes that act as bunch compressor. THz radiation is then emitted coherently for wavelengths appropriately longer than the longitudinal electron bunch length upon one single pass through any of the typical sources of synchrotron radiation. This allows for an enormous flexibility in the generated spectral, spatial and temporal properties of the THz pulses. Together with the theoretically large scalability and simplicity of these sources, they are discussed as extension of the THz pulses from laser-based THz sources towards extreme transient THz fields and high repetition rates with more than 10 projects currently being pursued worldwide. In this respect it is timely to investigate if current idealized theoretical descriptions can be technically fully realized. As our contribution to this effort, in this paper it is shown by numerical and analytical calculations that the interference effects between different THz radiators, intrinsically emitting in the forward direction of a linac can crucially affect radiation properties.

Compression of a 20 pC e-bunch at the European XFEL for Single Spike Operation

Abstract The production of ultra-short (fs or sub-fs long), high power, radiation pulses in the x-ray spectral region, represents a challenge for many existent SASE FELs. In order to realize single spike lasing the length of the electron bunch must be extremely small (less than a micrometer) thus it is necessary to tune the linac and magnetic chicanes near to the maximum compression point. In this setup, the final length of the electron bunch strongly depends on the non-linearity of its longitudinal phase space. The use of a third harmonic RF cavity section placed right after the injector is foreseen at the European XFEL in order to correct the longitudinal phase space non-linearity up to the third order. We describe a method for the optimization of the electron bunch compression presenting beam dynamics simulations for a 20 pC electron bunch.

Modeling and experimental study to identify arrival-time jitter sources in the presence of a magnetic chicane

The accurate and stable synchronization between electron bunch and external laser is a key requirement for the successful operation of an externally seeded free electron laser. This requirement is particularly stringent when the electron bunch is longitudinally compressed to sub-ps durations. We present an analytical description of the electron bunch arrival-time jitter that, supported by experimental evidence, allows the identification of specific, dominant jitter sources. The arrival-time jitter measurements were carried out as a function of the bunch length compression factor in FERMI@Elettra linac. The experimental behavior of the pulse-to-pulse time jitter agrees well both with the analytical predictions and particle tracking simulations. Our modeling takes into account the photoinjector laser arrival time on the cathode, the jitter of phases and voltages of the radio-frequency accelerator, and fluctuations of the compressor's dipole field.

Experimental Demonstration of Femtosecond Two-Color X-Ray Free-Electron Lasers

With an eye toward extending optical wave-mixing techniques to the x-ray regime, we present the first experimental demonstration of a two-color x-ray free-electron laser at the Linac Coherent Light Source. We combine the emittance-spoiler technique with a magnetic chicane in the undulator section to control the pulse duration and relative delay between two intense x-ray pulses and we use differently tuned canted pole undulators such that the two pulses have different wavelengths as well. Two schemes are shown to produce two-color soft x-ray pulses with a wavelength separation up to ∼1.9% and a controllable relative delay up to 40fs.

Magnet Design and Measurement Results of the Solenoids and Bunch Compressor Bending Magnets of the SwissFEL Test Facility

The SwissFEL Injector Test Facility at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PAI/Switzerland) started its operation in August 2010. This Facility represents the first stage of the 6 GeV acceleration complex foreseen for the SwissFEL X-Ray coherent light source planned at the PSI. The 250 MeV Injector consists of an S-Band RF photo injector followed by four S-Band acceleration structures of 4 m length each. For fine focusing corrections each accelerating structure is surrounded by four solenoids (WFS) of 0.8 m length and a maximum field of 0.1 T. Each solenoid consists of two coils in one yoke tube. To decrease the bunch length of the electron beam a magnetic bunch compressor chicane with four dipoles (AFBC2) providing a maximum magnetic field of 0.4 T for a length of 0.25 m was build. The central dipoles of the compressor chicane are sited on a movable girder to allow extensive compression studies with dipole angles between 0° and 5°. The preservation of a high brightness and a low emittance for the femto-second electron pulse impose severe tolerances in the field quality and in the magnet positioning. In this paper we review the design of two magnet types and discuss the results of field quality and magnetic axis measurements in terms of the specifications.

Reversible electron beam heating for suppression of microbunching instabilities at free-electron lasers

The presence of microbunching instabilities due to the compression of high-brightness electron beams at existing and future X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) results in restrictions on the attainable lasing performance and renders beam imaging with optical transition radiation impossible. The instability can be suppressed by introducing additional energy spread, i.e., "heating" the electron beam, as demonstrated by the successful operation of the laser heater system at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The increased energy spread is typically tolerable for self-amplified spontaneous emission FELs but limits the effectiveness of advanced FEL schemes such as seeding. In this paper, we present a reversible electron beam heating system based on two transverse deflecting radio-frequency structures (TDSs) up and downstream of a magnetic bunch compressor chicane. The additional energy spread is introduced in the first TDS, which suppresses the microbunching instability, and then is eliminated in the second TDS. We show the feasibility of the microbunching gain suppression based on calculations and simulations including the effects of coherent synchrotron radiation. Acceptable electron beam and radio-frequency jitter are identified, and inherent options for diagnostics and on-line monitoring of the electron beam's longitudinal phase space are discussed.

A modular path length corrector for recirculating linacs

We present a novel modular magnetic system that can introduce a large and continuously-variable path length difference without simultaneous variation of the longitudinal dispersion. This is achieved by using a combination of an electrically-adjustable magnetic chicane and a mechanically-adjustable focus- ing chicane. We describe how such a system may be made either isochronous or with a given longitudinal dispersion, and show that the nonlinear terms in such a system are relatively small.

A novel self-seeding scheme for hard X-ray FELs

Typical SASE XFEL pulses exhibit poor longitudinal coherence, a characteristic inherited from the start-up from shot noise. Self-seeding schemes are an answer to the call for improved longitudinal coherence. If applied to already working or designed XFELs, these schemes are subject to constraints, including minimal change to the baseline design, and possibility to recover the baseline mode of operation. In this work we propose a novel single-bunch self-seeding method, based on a particular kind of monochromator that satisfies these constraints. We will limit ourselves to the analysis of the simplest possible configuration, consisting of an input undulator and an output undulator, separated by our novel monochromatization stage. Such a stage consists of a weak few-meter long chicane, acting as a tunable delay stage, washing out the electron beam microbunching, and creating a transverse offset for the monochromator. In essence, the monochromator consists of a single crystal in Bragg-transmission geometry, which operates as a bandstop filter for the transmitted X-ray SASE radiation pulse. When the incident angle and the spectral contents of the incoming beam satisfy the Bragg diffraction condition, the temporal waveform of the transmitted radiation pulse shows a long monochromatic tail, whose duration is inversely proportional to the bandwidth of the absorption line in the transmittance spectrum. The magnetic chicane is tuned to shift the electron bunch on top of the monochromatic wake created by the bandstop filter thus selecting (temporal windowing) a part of the wake. By this, the electron bunch is seeded with a radiation pulse characterized by a bandwidth much narrower than the natural FEL bandwidth. The output power from our setup can be further increased by tapering the magnetic field of the undulator, yielding a tremendous increase in peak brightness with respect to the baseline mode of operation. In this work we present a feasibility study and exemplifications for the LCLS, and we discuss advantages of our method compared to other self-seeding techniques.

X-band technology applications at FERMI@Elettra FEL project

Abstract The current activities and future perspectives involving the use of X-band technology at the Elettra Laboratory are presented. These are mainly related to the development of the FERMI@Elettra FEL project, a fourth generation light source facility, now under commissioning in Trieste. The facility, based on a seed scheme, requires sub-ps electron bunches (∼1 kA), with very high optical qualities, at the entrance of the undulator chain. This is achieved by compressing the beam with two magnetic chicanes. A large effort has been undertaken to develop an X-band accelerating structure, to be installed downstream the first bunch compressor, before the magnetic chicane. In addition, we are also evaluating the possibility of extending the FERMI FEL wavelength capabilities beyond the foreseen limit of 4 nm, by increasing the linac energy from 1.5 GeV to 2.4–2.5 GeV, using the X-band technology.

STATUS OF STRANGENESS ELECTRO-PRODUCTION AT MAMI

At the Institut für Kernphysik in Mainz, Germany, the microtron MAMI has been upgraded to 1.5 GeV electron beam energy and can now be used to study strange hadronic systems. The magnetic spectrometer KAOS from GSI was dismantled and re-installed in the spectrometer facility operated by the A1 collaboration. The spectrometer's primary purpose is to study strangeness electro-production. Its compact design and its capability to detect negative and positive charged particles simultaneously under forward scattering angles complements the existing spectrometers. In 2008, an important milestone has been reached by the successful measurement of kaon production off a liquid hydrogen target. The identification of Λ and Σ0 hyperons in the missing mass spectra has demonstrated the capability of the extended facility to perform strangeness electro-production spectroscopy. To operate KAOS as a double-arm spectrometer under zero degree scattering angle major modifications are needed. A new vacuum chamber was constructed and installed, a new coordinate detector with many thousands of channels was built and tested, a new trigger system for the high rate environment was developed, and a magnetic chicane for the primary electron beam is under construction.