Setup and Characteristics of a Timing Reference Signal with sub-ps Accuracy for AWAKE

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to achieve sub-picosecond accuracy in timing reference signals for streak camera measurements, improving image noise reduction and precise delay determination in proton bunch diagnostics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using a reference laser pulse with variable delay to overcome triggering jitter and accurately measure time delays with 0.6 ps error.

Findings

Achieved ~1 ps time resolution in streak camera images.

Reduced noise in long-scale proton bunch images.

Determined laser pulse delay with 0.6 ps rms error.

Abstract

We describe a method to overcome the triggering jitter of a streak camera to obtain less noisy images of a self-modulated proton bunch over long time scales ($\sim$ 400 ps to ns) with the time resolution ($\sim$ 1 ps) of the short time scale images (73 ps). We also determine that this method, using a reference laser pulse with a variable delay, leads to the determination of the time delay between the ionizing laser pulse and the reference pulse with an error of 0.6 ps (rms).