Electro-Optic Sampling at the TESLA Test Accelerator: Experimental Setup and First Results

A mode-locked titanium-sapphire laser with 15 fs pulse width is used to determine the temporal profile of the ultrashort electron bunches in the linear TESLA Test accelerator. The experimental setup is described and first results are presented on the synchronization of the Ti:Sa laser with the radio frequency of the superconducting accelerator and on the coincidence measurements between the laser pulses and the coherent transition radiation pulses generated by the electron bunches. For the next step of the experiment, the electro-optic sensor will be mounted inside the vacuum pipe of the linac to permit a direct measurement of the electric field carried by the relativistic bunches.