Beam conditioning for free electron lasers: Consequences and methods

The consequences of beam conditioning in four example cases [VISA, a soft x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), LCLS, and a “Greenfield” FEL] are examined. It is shown that in emittance limited cases, proper conditioning reduces sensitivity to the transverse emittance and, furthermore, allows for stronger focusing in the undulator. Simulations show higher saturation power, with gain lengths reduced by a factor of 2 or more. The beam dynamics in a general conditioning system are studied, with “matching conditions” derived for achieving conditioning without growth in the effective emittance. Various conditioning lattices are considered, and expressions derived for the amount of conditioning provided in each case when the matching conditions are satisfied. These results show that there is no fundamental obstacle to producing beam conditioning, and that the problem can be reduced to one of proper lattice design. Nevertheless, beam conditioning will not be easy to implement in practice.