Measurements and Analysis of a High-Brightness Electron Beam Collimated in a Magnetic Bunch Compressor

A collimator located in a magnetic bunch compressor of a linear accelerator driven x-ray free electron laser has many potential applications, such as the removal of horns in the current distribution, the generation of ultrashort beams, and as a diagnostic of the beam slice emittance. Collective effects, however, are a major concern in applying the technique. Systematic measurements of emittance and analysis were performed using a collimator in the first bunch compressor of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). In the nominal, undercompressed configuration using the collimator we find that the y emittance (nonbending plane) is not increased, and the x emittance (in the bending plane) is increased by about 25%, in comparison to the injector emittance. From the analysis we conclude that the parasitic effects associated with this method are dominated by coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR), which causes a “systematic error” for measuring slice emittance at the bending plane using the collimation method. In general, we find good agreement between the measurements and simulations including CSR. However, for overcompressed beams at smaller collimator gaps, an extra emittance increase is found that does not agree with 1D simulations and is not understood.