The state of the art in normal

conducting RF photoinjector
development for UK XFEL
parameters
Louise Cowie
On behalf of the XFEL WP1 team

XFEL R&D Annual Meeting 20/07/18 Louise Cowie

 Contents
• Requirement for a NC photoinjector
• Intro to photoinjectors
• Design options
• Recent developments to consider
• Recent developments at Daresbury
 XFEL injector(s)
• Currently envisage two injectors, one for a MHz repetition
rate FEL, and the other for a mJ pulse energy FEL.
• For the latter we consider a NCRF photoinjector:
Parameter Value

Nominal repetition rate 100 Hz

Nominal charge 400 pC
Charge within core 350 pC
Maximum core normalised transverse slice 0.5 mm mrad
emittance
Bunch Length 3 ps rms
Maximum core uncorrelated energy spread <0.1%
Intro to NCRF photoinjectors
• Multi-cell RF cavity
• First cell is a half cell
• Laser driven photoemission of electrons
• Electrons are accelerated by E field
 Intro to NCRF photoinjectors
• The use of a pulsed laser allows a short pulse length and
high degree of control
• Photocathodes offer high current densities and a low
intrinsic emittance, and so a high charge bunch
• High field at the cathode limits space charge effects
keeping emittance small
• RF has to be pulsed due to heat load, so CW operation is
impossible. High repetition rates up to 100s of Hz possible
 Cavity geometry
• Frequency of cavity:
– Cavities in L and S band are the norm
– C and X band cavities are less well established
– A higher frequency gives a higher cathode field at the expense of more
issues with heating and vacuum
• Number of cells:
– More cells means higher energies can be reached
– Fewer cells ensures larger RF mode separation
– Fewer cells means there is less phase slippage between the cells, giving
a less nonlinearities in longitudinal phase space
• Half cell length:
– can be varied to gain better linearity in phase space and smaller
emittance
 Coupling options:Side coupling
• Power is coupled in
from the side of the
cell
• Single or dual
couplers
• Azimuthal coupling
• Z coupling with Azimuthal
Z coupling Racetrack sha
coupling
racetrack cell shape
Coupling options: Coaxial coupling
• “Doorknob”
waveguide to CLARA “gun-10”
coaxial transition
• Dipole component
seen at the end of Hz
the coupler
• Some designs use a CLARA “gun-400”
dummy waveguide
• H-coupler
introduced in
CLARA gun
Hz
 Heating
• Pulsed heating causes
damage and breakdown
sites
• Hotspots at couplers and
irises should be minimised
• Average heating causes
distortion, stress and
detuning
• Adequate cooling is
important
• Over-coupling power coupler
can reduce average heating
but requires more forward
power
 Cathodes
• Cathodes become degraded
due to RF breakdown, ion
back-bombardment Load-lock at
• Replacement under vacuum SwissFEL
reduces machine downtime
• Option of changing material
allows study and
development of cathode
materials
• Load-lock system allows
cathode changes under
vacuum
 Status RF RF rep Charge Emit σt ΔE/E
Frequency rate
UK XFEL Spec TBD 100Hz 400 pC 0.5 um 3 ps <0.1%
PAL XFEL Operational S-band
EU XFEL Operational L-Band

SwissFEL Operational S-band

SwissFEL TW (aim) Design C-band

SLAC X-band Mark 0 Tested with X-band
beam
SLAC X-band Mark 1 Tested with X-band
beam
LCLS Operational S-band

SPARC Operational S-band

ELI NP HPRF tested S-band
(aim)
CLARA HRRG (aim) LPRF tested S-band
 Future guns:ELI NP Gun
Status RF RF rep rate Charge Emit σt ΔE/E
Frequency
HPRF S-band 100 Hz 250 pC 0.4 um ~1 ps 0.1%
tested @250 pC

• Example of a modern
photoinjector
• HPRF tested
• Clamped not brazed
 Future guns:SwissFEL TW
Status RF RF rep rate Charge Emit σt ΔE/E
Frequency
Design C-band 100 Hz 200 pC ~0.2 um 1-1.5 ps ?
@200 pC rms

• C-band
• Short filling time
• No undesired passband
modes
• More cells possible
 Future guns:SLAC X-band
Gun Status RF RF rep rate Charge Emit σt ΔE/E
Frequency
Mark 0 Tested X-band 60 Hz few to 1.2 nC 0.8 um @100 460 fs Large
with pC rms
beam @290 pC
Mark 1 Tested X-band 10-60 Hz few-500 pc 0.3 um @ 80 ? 0.03%
with pC 185 @100 pc 30
beam MV/m & MeV
@40pC 155
MV/m

• X-band allows 200 MV/m

at cathode
• 200 ns RF pulse
• 17.7 MW input
CLARA 400 Hz gun at Daresbury
Status RF RF rep rate Charge Emit σt ΔE/E
Frequency
LPRF S-band 400 Hz 250 pC 0.3-0.5 um ~1 ps <0.1%
tested

400 Hz repetition rate

cavity with 120 MV/m on
the cathode photoinjector
designed at Daresbury
CLARA 400 Hz gun at Daresbury
• S-band
• 1.5 cell for optimum
longitudinal phase space
linearity
• H-coupler with coaxial feed to
symmetrise fields
• Probe in full cell for fast RF
feedback
• Extensive water cooling to
allow 400 Hz repetition rate
• Load lock cathode system
CLARA 400 Hz gun at Daresbury
Frequency tuning
• Frequency and field flatness 3.5
3
tuned via trimming of cell

Frequency (GHz)
2.5
Predicted
2
lengths before brazing 1.5
1
Measured
Aim

• RF measurements match 0.5

0
0 1 2 3
design values Trims performed

• Installed in Electron Hall and

tested with low power RF
from klystron
• Conditioning script in final
stages of development
Thanks for listening
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25,1997.
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16 June 2008
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[8] J.-Y.Raguin et al.,” The Swiss FEL RF Gun: RF Design and Thermal Analysis”, Conf. Proc. LINAC 2012, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
[9] J. Hong et al., “Development of Photocathode RF-Gun at PAL”, Conf. Proc. FEL2013, New York, NY, USA.
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 References (2)
[17] R. Ganter et al., “SwissFEL cathode load-lock system”, Conf. Proc. FEL 2013, New York, NY, USA.
[18] W. Decking et al., “Commissioning of the European XFEL Accelerator”, Conf. proc. IPAC 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark.
[19] T. Schietinger et al., “Commissioning experience and beam physics measurementsat the SwissFEL Injector Test Facility”, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 19, 100702
(2016.
[20] J. F. Schmege , “Reducing the heat load on the LCLS 120 Hz RF gun with RF Pulse Shaping, SLAC, LCLS-TN-02-7, December 2002.
[21] R. Akre, “Commissioning the Linac Coherent Light Source injector”, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 11, 030703, 12 March 2008.
[22] D. Alesini et al., “Status of The SPARC Photoinjector”, Conf. Proc. LINAC 2006, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
[23] D. Alesini et al., “High Power Test Results Of The ELI-NP S-Band Gun Fabricated With The New Clamping Technology Without Brazing”, Conf. Proc. IPAC 2017,
Copenhagen, Denmark.
[24] L. Piersanti et al., “The RF System Of The ELI-NP Gamma Beam Source” Conf. Proc. IPAC 2016, Busan, Korea.
[25] A. E Vlieks et al., “Development of an X-band RF Gun at SLAC”, AIP Conference Proceedings 625, 107 (2002)
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[27] R. Marsh et al., “Modeling and design of an X-band RF photoinjector”, Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 15, 102001, 15 Oct 2012.
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 Status RF Frequency RF rep rate Charge Emit σt ΔE/E
UK XFEL Spec TBD 100Hz 400 pC 0.5 um 3 ps <0.1%
PAL XFEL Operational S-band 10 Hz 200 pC 0.67-0.73 um 3 ps 0.1% rms

EU XFEL Operational L-Band 10 Hz (train pulse) 20- 1000 pC 0.6 um (slice) 3 ps 1.5% ?
1.2 um (proj)
@ 500 pC

SwissFEL Operational S-band 10 Hz 10-200 pC 200-280 nm after 3.8 ps rms 0.1 %

linac/BC @ 200
pC

SwissFEL TW Design C-band 100 Hz 200 pC ~0.2 um @200 1-1.5 ps rms ?

(aim) pC

SLAC X-band Tested with X-band 60 Hz few to 1.2 nC 0.8 um @100 pC 460 fs rms @290 Large
Mark 0 beam pC

SLAC X-band Tested with X-band 10-60 Hz few-500 pc 0.3 um @ 80 pC ? 0.03%

Mark 1 beam 185 MV/m & @100 pc 30 MeV
@40pC 155
MV/m

LCLS Operational S-band 120 Hz 1 nC 1.2 um @250 11 ps Slice:

MeV 0.0024 % @250
MeV

SPARC Operational S-band 10 Hz 200-900 pC 0.8 um @200 pC 8 ps @200 pC 1% @ 200 pC

2.2 um @900 pC 12 ps @900 pC 2.6% @900 pC

ELI NP HPRF tested S-band 100 Hz 250 pC 0.4 um @250 pC ~1 ps 0.1%

(aim)

CLARA HRRG LPRF tested S-band 400 Hz 250 pC 0.3-0.5 um ~1 ps 0.3%

(aim)