Emittance measurement & optimization for the photocathode RF gun with laser profile shaping

The Laser Undulator Compact X-ray source （LUCX） is a test bench for a compact high brightness X-ray generator, based on inverse Compton Scattering at KEK, which requires high intensity multi-bunch trains with low transverse emittance. A photocathode RF gun with emittance compensation solenoid is used as an electron source. Much endeavor has been made to increase the beam intensity in the multi-bunch trains. The cavity of the RF gun is tuned into an unbalanced field in order to reduce space charge effects, so that the field gradient on the cathode surface is relatively higher when the forward RF power into gun cavity is not high enough. A laser profile shaper is employed to convert the driving laser profile from Gaussian into uniform. In this research we seek to find the optimized operational conditions for the decrease of the transverse emittance. With the uniform driving laser and the unbalanced RF gun, the RMS transverse emittance of a 1 nC bunch has been improved effectively from 5.46 πmm·mrad to 3.66 πmm·mrad.

Compact narrow-band THz radiation source based on photocathode rf gun

Narrow-band THz coherent Cherenkov radiation can be driven by a subpicosecond electron bunch trav- eling along the axis of a hollow cylindrical dielectric-lined waveguide. We present a scheme of compact THz radiation source based on the photocathode rf gun. On the basis of our analytic result, the subpicosecond electron bunch with high charge （800 pC） can be generated directly in the photocathode rf gun. According to the analytical and simulated results, a narrow emission spectrum peaked at 0.24 THz with 2 megawatt （MW） peak power is expected to gain in the proposed scheme （the length of the facility is about 1.2 m）.

Generation and measurement of sub-picosecond electron bunch in photocathode rf gun

We consider a scheme to generate a sub-picosecond electron bunch in the photocathode rf gun by im-proving the acceleration gradient in the gun, suitably tuning the bunch charge, the laser spot size and the acceleration phase, and reducing the growth of transverse emittance by laser shaping. A nondestructive technique is also reported to measure the electron bunch length, by measuring the high-frequency spectrum of wakefield radiation which is caused by the passage of a relativistic electron bunch through a channel surrounded by a dielectric.

Design of an MeV ultra-fast electron diffraction experiment at Tsinghua university

Time-resolved MeV ultra-fast electron diffraction (UED) is a powerful tool for structure dynamics studies. In this paper, we present a design of a MeV UED facility based on a photocathode RF gun at Tsinghua University. Electron beam qualities are optimized with numerical simulations, indicating that resolutions of 250 fs and 0.01 , and bunch charge exceeding 105 electrons are expected with technically achievable machine parameters. Status of experiment preparation is also presented.

Bunch length measurement at Tsinghua Thomson scattering X-ray source

The length of electron beam from a photocathode RF gun is determined by a spectrometer, according to the relative energy spread induced by the bunch length during the acceleration in a linac. For a photocathode RF gun, different laser injected phase and beam charge are studied. The compression is changed for the different laser phases, as from 10 ° to 30 ° , and the bunch length is lengthened due to the strong longitudinal space charge force, caused by the increased charge.

TW Laser system for Thomson scattering X-ray light source at Tsinghua University

A TW (Tera Watt) laser system based on Ti:sapphire mainly for the Tsinghua Thomson scattering X-ray light source (TTX) is being built. Both UV (ultraviolet) laser pulse for driving the photocathode radiofrequency (RF) gun and the IR (infrared) laser pulse as the electron-beam-scattered-light are provided by the system. Efforts have also been made in laser pulse shaping and laser beam transport to optimize the high-brightness electron beam production by the photocathode RF gun.