Simulation of transition radiation based beam imaging from tilted targets

Abstract

Transverse beam profile diagnostics in linear electron accelerators is usually based on direct imaging of a beam spot via visible transition radiation. In this case the fundamental resolution limit is determined by radiation diffraction in the optical system. A method to measure beam sizes beyond the diffraction limit is to perform imaging dominated by a single-particle function (SPF), i.e. when the recorded image is dominated not by the transverse beam profile but by the image function of a point source (single electron). Knowledge of the SPF for an experimental setup allows one to extract the transverse beam size from an SPF dominated image. This paper presents an approach that allows one to calculate two-dimensional SPF dominated beam images, taking into account the target inclination angle and the depth-of-field effect. In conclusion, a simple fit function for beam size determination in the case under consideration is proposed and its applicability is tested under various conditions.