Electron-bunch compression using a dynamical nonlinearity correction for a compact x-ray free-electron laser

Abstract

We propose a novel method to achieve a highly brilliant electron bunch with a peak current of several kA in an x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) by efficiently correcting nonlinearity of the bunch-compression system. In this method, a second-order positive energy chirp is imprinted to the electron bunch by a correction cavity installed at the beginning of the system, namely the nonlinearity is initially overcorrected. The imprinted chirp is enhanced in a compression process at a bunch compressor due to electron bunch rotation in longitudinal phase space, and then continuously corrects the second-order nonlinearity induced in the following sections. Since the frequency and field amplitude of the correction cavity can be significantly lowered to the available technology level, this method enables the use of a high-frequency accelerator, i.e., a high-gradient accelerator, which is indispensable to realize a compact XFEL facility. © 2009 The American Physical Society.