First measurements of subpicosecond electron beam structure by autocorrelation ofcoherent diffraction radiation

摘要

We report the initial measurements of subpicosecond electron beam structure usinga nonintercepting technique based on the autocorrelation of coherent diffraction radiation (CDR). A far infrared (FIR) Michelson interferometer with a Golay detector was used to obtain the autocorrelation. The radiation was generated by a thermionic rf gun beam at 40 MeV as it passed through a 5-mm-tall slit./aperture in a metal screen whose surface was at 45DG to the beam direction. For the observed bunch lengths of about 450 fs (FWHM) with a shorter time spike on the leading edge, peak currents of about 100 A are indicated. Also a model was developed and used to calculate the CDR from the back of two metal strips separated by a 5-mm vertical gap. The demonstrated nonintercepting aspect of this method could allow on-line bunch length characterizations to be done during free-electron laser experiments.