Constructions and Preliminary HV Conditioning of a Photocathode Direct-Current Electron Gun at IHEP

As one of the most important key technologies for future advanced light source based on the energy recovery linac, a photocathode dc electron gun is supported by Institute of High Energy Physics （IHEP） to address the technical challenges of producing very low ernittance beams at high average current. Construction of the dc gun is completed and a preliminary high voltage conditioning is carried out up to 440 k V. The design, construction and preliminary HV conditioning results for the dc gun are described.

Multi-port cavity model and low-level RF systems design for VHF gun

Very high frequency(VHF) photocathode guns have excellent performance and are being increasingly selected as electron sources for high-repetition-rate X-ray free-electron lasers. As a highly loaded quality factor cavity, the VHF gun requires high stability in the amplitude and phase of the cavity field. However, the gun is microwave powered by two solid-state power sources through two separate power couplers. The input difference between the two power couplers will influence the stability of the cavity field. To systematically study this influence and obtain measurement formulae, a multi-port VHF gun LCR circuit model is built and analyzed. During the warm-up condition, the cavity structure will be deformed due to the large-scale change in the cavity temperature. Then, the deformation will result in cavity resonant frequency changes. To prevent the mechanic tuner from suffering damages due to the frequent and long-distance movement for correcting the cavity resonant frequency, a self-excited loop(SEL) control system is considered for changing the loop phase and make the loop frequency follow the resonant frequency. In this study, a steady-state model of the VHF gun cavity is built for obtaining the optimal input coupler coefficient and the stability requirement of the forward voltage. Then, the generator-driven resonator and SEL control system, which combine with the VHF multiport modeling, are modeled and simulated. The simulated results show that the SEL system can perfectly operate in the process of condition and warm-up.

Characteristics of terahertz coherent transition radiation generated from picosecond ultrashort electron bunches

This paper presents a method of generating terahertz （THz） coherent transition radiation （CTR） from picosecond ultrashort electron bunches including single and train bunches, which are produced by a photocathode radio frequency gun. The radiation characteristics of THz CTR including formation factor and energy spectrum are analysed in detail. With the help of a 2-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation, the radiation characteristics including power, energy and magnetic field are analysed. The results show that the radiation frequency can be adjusted by tuning the repetition frequency of the train bunch and the energy can be enhanced with the train bunches.

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.

RF deflecting cavity design for bunch length measurement of photoinjector at Tsinghua University

RF deflecting cavity can be used for bunch length measurement and is designed to diagnose the beam produced by the photocathode electron gun which was built at Tsinghua University for the Thomson scattering experiment. Detailed discussion and calculation for measuring the 3.5 MeV bunch and another with further acceleration to 50 MeV, which is under development, are presented. A standing-wave deflecting cavity working at 2856 MHz is designed and the power feeding system has been planned.

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.

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.

RF deffecting cavity for bunch length measurement in Tsinghua Thomson scattering X-ray source

An RF deffecting cavity used for bunch length measurement has been designed and fabricated at Tsinghua University for the Thomson Scattering X-Ray Source. The cavity is a 2856 MHz, π-mode, 3-cell standing-wave cavity, to diagnose the 3.5 MeV beam produced by photocathode electron gun. With a larger power source, the same cavity will again be used to measure the accelerated beam with energy of 50 MeV before colliding with the laser pulse. The RF design using MAFIA for both the cavity shape and the power coupler is reviewed, followed by presenting the fabrication procedure and bench measurement results of two cavities.