Longitudinal electron bunch diagnostics using coherent transition radiation

The longitudinal charge distribution of electron bunches in the Fermilab/NICADD photoinjector was determined using the coherent transition radiation produced by electrons passing through a thin metallic foil. The autocorrelation of the transition radiation signal was measured with a Michelson-type interferometer. The response function of the interferometer was determined from measured and simulated intensity spectra for low electron bunch charge and maximum longitudinal compression. Both pyroelectric and Golay detectors were used for these measurements. A Kramers-Kronig technique was used to determine longitudinal charge distribution. Measurements were performed for electron bunch lengths in the range from 0.3 to 2 ps (rms). To test the accuracy of this interferometric method, the longitudinal charge distribution was measured for double-peaked electron bunches with known distance between the two pulses. The agreement between measured bunch length and simulation is within 30%.