Free electron laser and microwave instability interplay in a storage ring

Collective effects, such as the microwave instability, influence the longitudinal dynamics of an electron beam in a storage ring. In a storage ring free electron laser (FEL) they can compete with the induced beam heating and thus be treated as a further concomitant perturbing source of the beam dynamics. Bunch length and energy spread measurements, carried out at the Super-ACO storage ring, can be correctly interpreted according to a broad-band impedance model. Quantitative estimations of the relative role that is played by the microwave instability and the laser heating in shaping the beam longitudinal dynamics have been obtained by the analysis of the equilibrium laser power. It has been performed in terms of either a theoretical limit, implemented with the measured beam longitudinal characteristics, or the numerical results obtained by a macroparticle tracking code, which includes the laser pulse propagation. Such an analysis, carried out for different operating points of the Super-ACO storage ring FEL, indicates that the laser heating counteracts the microwave instability.