Observations of enhanced OTR signals from a compressed electron beam

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) injector complex includes an option for photocathode (PC) gun beam injection into the 450-MeV S-band linac. At the 150-MeV point, a 4-dipole chicane was used to compress the micropulse bunch length from a few ps to sub 0.5 ps (FWHM). Noticeable enhancements of the optical transition radiation (OTR) signal sampled after the APS chicane were then observed as has been reported in LCLS injector commissioning. A FIR CTR detector and interferometer were used to monitor the bunch compression process and correlate the appearance of localized spikes of OTR signal (5 to 10 times brighter than adjacent areas) within the beam image footprint. We have done spectral dependency measurements at 375 MeV with a series of band pass filters centered in 50-nm increments from 400 to 700 nm and observed a broadband enhancement in these spikes. Discussions of the possible mechanisms will be presented.