Electron bunch energy and phase feed-forward stabilization system for the Mark V RF-linac free-electron laser

TL;DR

This paper presents a developed RF amplitude and phase feed-forward system that improves the stability of electron bunch energy and phase in the Mark V RF-linac free-electron laser, enhancing its performance.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel RF measurement and compensation system specifically designed for the Mark V FEL, demonstrating improved RF stability and laser performance.

Findings

RF phase compensation improves FEL stability

Preliminary amplitude compensation results show performance gains

System performance aligns with computer simulations

Abstract

An amplitude and phase compensation system has been developed and tested at the University of Hawai`i for the optimization of the RF drive system to the Mark V Free-Electron Laser. Temporal uniformity of the RF drive is essential to the generation of an electron beam suitable for optimal free-electron laser performance and the operation of an inverse Compton scattering x-ray source. The design of the RF measurement and compensation system is described in detail and the results of RF phase compensation are presented. Performance of the free-electron laser was evaluated by comparing the measured effects of phase compensation with the results of a computer simulation. Finally, preliminary results are presented for the effects of amplitude compensation on the performance of the complete system.