We study the possibility to produce a 1.6 pC electron beam (10 7 electrons) with a bunch length of less than 10 fs and a beam energy of a few MeV. Such a short, relativistic beam will be useful for an electron diffraction experiment with a 10 fs time resolution. An electron beam with 10 7 electrons will allow a single-shot experiment with a laser pulse pump and an electron beam probe. In this design, an S-band photocathode gun is used for generating and accelerating a beam and a buncher consisting of two S-band four-cell cavities is used for temporally compressing the beam. Focusing solenoids control the beam transverse divergence and size at the sample. Numerical optimization is carried out to achieve a beam with a 4 fs full-width-at-half-maximum length, a 26 microradian root-mean-square divergence, and a 2 nm transverse coherence length at a 3.24 MeV beam energy. When state-of-the-art rf stability is considered, beam arrival time jitter at the sample is calculated to be about 10 fs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.