Abstract
| Previously, measurements in the visible to VUV regimes of z-dependent microbunching in a self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL) have provided important information about the fundamental mechanisms. In those experiments a thin metal foil was used to block the more intense SASE radiation and to generate coherent optical transition radiation (COTR) as one source in a two-foil interferometer. However, for the proposed Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the intense SASE emission is either too strongly transmitted at 1.5 angstroms or the needed foil thickness for blocking scatters the electron beam too much. Since coherent x-ray transition radiation (CXTR) is emitted in an annulus with opening angle 1/γ = 36 µrad for 14.09-GeV electrons, one could use a thin foil or foil stack to generate the XTR and CXTR and an annular crystal to wavelength sort the radiation. The combined selectivity will favor the CXTR over SASE by about eight orders of magnitude. Time-dependent GINGER simulations support the z-dependent gain evaluation plan. |