SwissFEL Injector Test Facility Research Articles

Optimal Control of Gains in a Linear Accelerator: A Supervisory Method for Vector-Sum Control

In a linear accelerator, driven by radio frequency (RF) amplifier stations, one must precisely control the energy gain of the accelerating beam. The RF stations can be viewed as amplifiers placed sequentially to accelerate the beam. This brief presents two control schemes within which the RF stations act as actuators, and a centralized control unit controls the beam energy by acting either on the RF amplitudes or on the RF phases. The control algorithms are based on convex optimization problems with different objectives. The two approaches are successfully tested at the SwissFEL injector test facility using three full-scale RF stations. The two methods are compared from both performance and complexity points of view.

Commissioning experience and beam physics measurements at the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility

The SwissFEL Injector Test Facility operated at the Paul Scherrer Institute between 2010 and 2014, serving as a pilot plant and testbed for the development and realization of SwissFEL, the X-ray Free-Electron Laser facility under construction at the same institute. The test facility consisted of a laser-driven rf electron gun followed by an S-band booster linac, a magnetic bunch compression chicane and a diagnostic section including a transverse deflecting rf cavity. It delivered electron bunches of up to 200 pC charge and up to 250 MeV beam energy at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. The measurements performed at the test facility not only demonstrated the beam parameters required to drive the first stage of an FEL facility, but also led to significant advances in instrumentation technologies, beam characterization methods and the generation, transport and compression of ultra-low-emittance beams. We give a comprehensive overview of the commissioning experience of the principal subsystems and the beam physics measurements performed during the operation of the test facility, including the results of the test of an in-vacuum undulator prototype generating radiation in the vacuum ultraviolet and optical range.

Design and experimental tests of free electron laser wire scanners

SwissFEL is a x-rays free electron laser (FEL) driven by a 5.8 GeV linac under construction at Paul Scherrer Institut. In SwissFEL, wire scanners (WSCs) will be complementary to view-screens for emittance measurements and routinely used to monitor the transverse profile of the electron beam during FEL operations. The SwissFEL WSC is composed of an in-vacuum beam-probe---motorized by a stepper motor---and an out-vacuum pick-up of the wire signal. The mechanical stability of the WSC in-vacuum hardware has been characterized on a test bench. In particular, the motor induced vibrations of the wire have been measured and mapped for different motor speeds. Electron-beam tests of the entire WSC setup together with different wire materials have been carried out at the 250 MeV SwissFEL Injector Test Facility (SITF, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH) and at FERMI (Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy). In particular, a comparative study of the relative measurement accuracy and the radiation-dose release of $\mathrm{Al}(99)\ensuremath{\mathbin:}\mathrm{Si}(1)$ and tungsten (W) wires has been carried out. On the basis of the outcome of the bench and electron-beam tests, the SwissFEL WSC can be qualified as a high resolution and machine-saving diagnostic tool in consideration of the mechanical stability of the scanning wire at the micrometer level and the choice of the wire material ensuring a drastic reduction of the radiation-dose release with respect to conventional metallic wires. The main aspects of the design, laboratory characterization and electron beam tests of the SwissFEL WSCs are presented.

INVESTIGATION OF THE EXTENDED RANGE REM-COUNTER SMARTREM-LINUS IN REFERENCE AND WORKPLACE FIELDS EXPECTED AROUND HIGH-ENERGY ACCELERATORS.

Radiation survey instrumentation is adequate for the use around high-energy accelerators if capable to measure the dose arising from neutrons with energies ranging from thermal up to a few gigaelectronvolts. The SmartREM-LINUS is a commercial extended range rem-counter, consisting of a central (3)He-proportional counter surrounded by a spherical moderator made of borated polyethylene with an internal shield made of lead. The dose rate indicated by the SmartREM-LINUS was investigated for two different irradiation conditions. The linearity and the angular dependence of the indicated dose rate were investigated using reference neutron fields produced by (241)AmBe and (252)Cf. Additional measurements were performed in two different workplace fields with a component of neutrons with energies >20 MeV, namely the CERN-EU high-energy reference field and near the beam dump of the SwissFEL injector test facility. The measured dose rates were compared to a commercial rem-counter (WENDI2) and the results of Monte Carlo simulations.

Adaptive robust control of longitudinal and transverse electron beam profiles

Feedback control of the longitudinal and transverse electron beam profiles are considered to be critical for beam control in accelerators. In the feedback scheme, the longitudinal or transverse beam profile is measured and compared to a desired profile to give an error estimate. The error is then used to act on the appropriate actuators to correct the profile. The role of the transverse feedback is to steer the beam in a particular trajectory, known as the ``orbit.'' The common approach for orbit correction is based on approximately inverting the response matrix, and in the best case, involves regulating or filtering the singular values. In the current contribution, a more systematic and structured way of handling orbit correction is introduced giving robustness against uncertainties in the response matrix. Moreover, the input bounds are treated to avoid violating the limits of the corrector currents. The concept of the robust orbit correction has been successfully tested at the SwissFEL injector test facility. In the SwissFEL machine, a photo-injector laser system extracts electrons from a cathode and a similar robust control method is developed for the longitudinal feedback control of the current profile of the electron bunch. The method manipulates the angles of the crystals in the laser system to produce a desired charge distribution over the electron bunch length. This approach paves the way towards automation of laser pulse stacking.

Time-Delayed Feedback Control of Electron Beam Energy Using <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${H} _{\infty }$ </tex-math> </inline-formula>-Optimal Fractional Delay

In the two-bunch operation mode of the Swiss Free Electron Laser (SwissFEL) machine, two electron bunches, separated by 28 ns, are fired and accelerated every 10 ms. The electron beam is passed through several accelerating cavities that are energized by high-power radio frequency (RF) pulses. The RF voltage generates a specific time-dependant accelerating gradient profile that results in different energy gains for the two bunches. It is often required that the two electron beams experience the same accelerating gradient through the cavities. This can be achieved by shifting the RF pulse in time to change the relative energy of the two beams. However, in the digital RF system used here, the minimum shift is limited by the sampling time of the digital-to-analog converters. In this brief, we develop a control scheme for the energy difference control, which finely tunes the RF pulse timing by a fractional delay filter. The method has been successfully tested at the SwissFEL injector test facility.

Preservation of low slice emittance in bunch compressors

Minimizing the dilution of the electron beam emittance is crucial for the performance of accelerators, in particular for free electron laser facilities, where the length of the machine and the efficiency of the lasing process depend on it. Measurements performed at the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility revealed an increase in slice emittance after compressing the bunch even for moderate compression factors. The phenomenon was experimentally studied by characterizing the dependence of the effect on beam and machine parameters relevant for the bunch compression. The reproduction of these measurements in simulation required the use of a 3D beam dynamics model along the bunch compressor that includes coherent synchrotron radiation. Our investigations identified transverse effects, such as coherent synchrotron radiation and transverse space charge as the sources of the observed emittance dilution, excluding other effects, such as chromatic effects on single slices or spurious dispersion. We also present studies, both experimental and simulation based, on the effect of the optics mismatch of the slices on the variation of the slice emittance along the bunch. After a corresponding reoptimization of the beam optics in the test facility we reached slice emittances below 200 nm for the central slices along the longitudinal dimension with a moderate increase up to 300 nm in the head and tail for a compression factor of 7.5 and a bunch charge of 200 pC, equivalent to a final current of 150 A, at about 230 MeV energy.

Temporal profile measurements of relativistic electron bunch based on wakefield generation

A complete characterization of the time-resolved longitudinal beam phase space is important to optimize the final performances of an accelerator, and in particular this is crucial for Free Electron Laser (FEL) facilities. In this paper we propose a novel method to characterize the profile of a relativistic electron bunch by passively streaking the beam using its self-interaction with the transverse wakefield excited by the bunch itself passing off-axis through a dielectric-lined or a corrugated waveguide. Results of a proof-of-principle experiment at the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility are discussed.

Transverse profile imager for ultrabright electron beams

A transverse profile imager for ultrabright electron beams is presented, which overcomes resolution issues in present designs by observing the Scheimpflug imaging condition as well as the Snell-Descartes law of refraction in the scintillating crystal. Coherent optical transition radiation emitted by highly compressed electron bunches on the surface of the crystal is directed away from the camera, allowing to use the monitor for profile measurements of electron bunches suitable for X-ray free electron lasers. The optical design has been verified by ray tracing simulations, and the angular dependency of the resolution has been verified experimentally. An instrument according to the presented design principles has been used in the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility, and different scintillator materials have been tested. Measurements in conjunction with a transverse deflecting radiofrequency structure and an array of quadrupole magnets demonstrate a normalized slice emittance of 25 nm in the core of a 30 fC electron beam at a pulse length of 10 ps and a particle energy of 230 MeV.

Evaluation of the cone-shaped pickup performance for low charge sub-10 fs arrival-time measurements at free electron laser facilities

An evaluation of the cone-shaped pickup performance as a part of the high bandwidth bunch arrival-time monitors (BAMs) for a low charge sub-10 fs arrival-time measurements is presented. Three sets of pickups are installed at the free electron laser FLASH at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, the quasi-cw SRF accelerator ELBE at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and the SwissFEL injector test facility at Paul Scherrer Institute. Measurements and simulations are in good agreement and the pickups fulfill the design specifications. Utilizing the high bandwidth BAM with the cone-shaped pickups, an improvement of the signal slope by a factor of 10 is demonstrated at ELBE compared to the BAM with a low bandwidth.

Electron Bunch Shape Measurements Using Electro-optical Spectral Decoding

Longitudinal diagnostics of the electron bunch shapes play a crucial role in the operation of linac-based light sources. Electro-optical techniques allow us to measure the longitudinal electron bunch profiles non-destructively on a shot-by-shot basis. Here we present results from measurements of electron bunches with a length of 200-900 fs rms at the Swiss FEL Injector Test Facility. All the measurements were done using an Yb-doped fibre laser system (with a central wavelength of a 1050nm) and a GaP crystal. The technique of electro-optical spectral decoding (EOSD) was applied and showed great capabilities to measure bunch shapes down to around 370 fs rms. Measurements were performed for different electron energies to study the expected distortions of the measured bunch profile due to the energy-dependent widening of the electric field, which plays a role for low beam energies below and around 40 MeV. The studies provide valuable input for the design of the EOSD monitors for the compact linear accelerator FLUTE that is currently under commissioning at the Karslruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Emittance measurements and minimization at the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility

A detailed analysis of measurement methods and optimization procedures for accurate measurement of the transverse slice and projected emittances of an electron beam in a linear accelerator have yielded measurement errors of 5%. After full optimization, slice emittances of about 200 nm for 200 pC and about 100 nm for 10 pC have been demonstrated at the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility.

Four-dimensional transverse beam matrix measurement using the multiple-quadrupole scan technique

Accurate measurements of the transverse beam properties are essential to understand and optimize particle beams. We present an optimized method that uses three quadrupole magnets and one profile monitor to measure the full 4D transverse matrix of the beam. The method has been applied to the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility (SITF) at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen). The SITF is the principal test bed and demonstration plant for the SwissFEL project, which aims at realizing a hard-x-ray free-electron laser in 2017. Simulations, measurements, and results of cross-plane coupling correction are presented.

Beam-size-free optics determination

A new method to measure the Twiss parameters in a beam transport line is presented. Usually these parameters are obtained based on the measured beam sizes. In the new method, in contrast, we determine them by finding quadrupole strengths that result in minimum beam sizes at a downstream measurement location. Therefore, systematic errors related to beam-size monitors do not propagate to the measured Twiss parameters. We describe the method together with a detailed estimation of statistical and systematic errors. It was examined with beam at the SwissFEL injector test facility at PSI, and these results are also presented.

General and efficient dispersion-based measurement of beam slice parameters

In free-electron lasers, it is essential to characterize the beam parameters as a function of the longitudinal position along the bunch, i.e., to determine the so-called slice parameters. Conventional measurements utilize transverse deflector structures to deflect the beam transversely as a function of time. Such structures are expensive and only allow the measurement of slice parameters in one transverse plane. Alternatively, the correlation between time and transverse position can be generated by introducing transverse dispersion to an energy-chirped beam. Dedicated dispersive sections can be used to measure the slice beam parameters in one transverse plane at one location. To extend the applicability of such measurements, we propose to actively generate the dispersion in the two transverse directions wherever required, thus enabling the measurement of beam slice parameters in both transverse planes at potentially any location of the accelerator. Our strategy does not incur any additional cost since it utilizes components already built into the accelerator for other purposes. The application of the method is illustrated with the SwissFEL injector test facility: we show simulations and measurements and we experimentally verify our proposal with the well-established transverse deflector approach.

Neutron dose rate at the SwissFEL injector test facility: first measurements

At the Paul Scherrer Institute, the new SwissFEL Free Electron Laser facility is currently in the design phase. It is foreseen to accelerate electrons up to a maximum energy of 7 GeV with a pulsed time structure. An injector test facility is operated at a maximum energy of 300 MeV and serves as the principal test and demonstration plant for the SwissFEL project. Secondary radiation is created in unavoidable interactions of the primary beam with beamline components. The resulting ambient dose-equivalent rate due to neutrons was measured along the beamline with different commercially available survey instruments. The present study compares the readings of these neutron detectors (one of them is specifically designed for measurements in pulsed fields). The experiments were carried out in both, a normal and a diagnostic mode of operation of the injector.

Symmetric single-quadrupole-magnet scan method to measure the 2D transverse beam parameters

Precise measurements of the transverse beam parameters are essential to control and optimize all types of charged particle beams. In this paper we present a novel method that uses one quadrupole magnet and one profile monitor to measure the transverse beam emittance and optics. In comparison to a conventional single-quadrupole scan measurement, this new technique measures the two transverse planes simultaneously. This novel procedure is faster, more intuitive and allows keeping under control the required quadrupole gradient and the beam sizes at the profile monitor. The application of the method is illustrated with the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility.

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.