Feasibility study for the hard x-ray free electron laser based on synergistic use of conventional and plasma accelerator technologies

TL;DR

This study explores the feasibility of combining conventional RF accelerators with plasma wakefield accelerators to develop a hard x-ray free electron laser, analyzing system parameters and potential performance.

Contribution

It introduces a hybrid accelerator approach using conventional and plasma technologies for x-ray free electron lasers, highlighting potential system configurations and challenges.

Findings

Conventional accelerators provide high-quality, low-emittance beams.

Emittance can be preserved through proper beam matching in plasma wakefields.

Energy spread may increase due to long beam duration from conventional accelerators.

Abstract

We access the possibility of using the conventional RF accelerator as an injector for the plasma driven wakefield accelerator. Conventional accelerators deliver high quality beams with low emittance and low energy spread. Once injected into the plasma wake, the emittance may be preserved upon proper beam matching while the energy spread may not due to long beam duration delivered by the conventional accelerators. Parameters of the overall accelerator system and the free electron laser based on such an accelerator are estimated.