Start-to-End Simulations of the CLARA FEL Test Facility

CLARA is a new FEL test facility being developed at STFC Daresbury Laboratory in the UK, aiming to deliver advanced FEL capabilities including few-cycle pulse generation and Fourier transform limited output. Commissioning is underway on the front-end (photo-injector and first linac) while the later stages are being procured and assembled. Start-to-end (S2E) simulations of the full facility are presented, including optimisation of the accelerator setup to deliver the required properties of one of the electron beam modes specified for FEL operation. FEL simulations are performed using the Genesis 1.3 and Puffin codes and the results are compared.