IFEL Experiment at the Neptune Lab

P. Musumeci and C. Pellegrini

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Los Angeles,

405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1547

Abstract. We present a two stage Inverse Free Electron Laser accelerator proposed for
construction at the UCLA Neptune Lab. Proof-of -principle experiments on the IFEL scheme
have been carried out successfully. This experiment is intended to achieve a 100 MeV energy
gain, staging two IFEL modules. It will use a 16 MeV electron beam, a 1 TW CO2 laser and two
different tapered helical undulators. The problem of refocusing both laser and electron beam is
analyzed in detail. A preliminary beam-line layout and numerical simulation are presented.

INTRODUCTION
One of the most appealing possibilities for the acceleration of charged particle is to
make them interact with the very large high electric fields easily available in today's
high power lasers. One important advantage of far field accelerator with respect to
other advanced accelerator scheme, is that the acceleration takes place in vacuum and
the interaction does not require the presence of a plasma or other media at a
wavelength distance from the beam, thus avoiding problems of electrical breakdown,
beam intensity limitations due to electromagnetic interaction with material boundary,
and beam quality degradation due to the interaction with a plasma.
In principle every reverse process of a charged particle radiation can be used for
acceleration. In this paper we study the inverse process of the Free Electron Laser,
namely the interaction of a quasi monochromatic electromagnetic wave, with a
relativistic electron beam inside an oscillating static magnetic field.
This idea has been proposed initially by Palmer [1] and then extensively explored
by Courant, Pellegrini and Zakowicz [2] and others [3-4]. Proof-of-principle Inverse
Free Electron Laser experiments have already been carried out successfully and
recently also the possibility of staging of different IFEL modules has been proved [5].
In particular a system with many accelerating regions can be obtained either by using
a number of laser beams each focused only once, or by multiple focusing of one laser
beam. In the first case the main problem is to keep the phase coherence of the different
laser beams so that the particles remain in step with the accelerating field [6]. We
explore the second case, where the main problem is the transport and focusing of a
high power laser beam.
The goal of the proposed experiment is to realize an IFEL accelerator raising the
beam energy from about 14 MeV, to about 100 MeV, and to test the feasibility of a
staging scheme using only one laser beam.

CP569, Advanced Accelerator Concepts: Ninth Workshop, edited by P. L. Colestock and S. Kelley
© 2001 American Institute of Physics 0-7354-0005-9/017$ 18.00
249
 The Neptune Laboratory at UCLA has already a high brightness split photoinjector
[6], and the high power MARS laser. The electron beam and laser parameters are
given in Table 1.

Table 1. Initial parameters

Electron beam energy 14MeV
Electron beam charge InC
Electron beam pulse length 6ps
Electron beam normalized emittance 5 mm-mrad
Laser wavelength 10.6(1
Laser energy 100 J
Laser pulse duration 100 ps

In the first part of this paper we propose a solution to the problem of focusing and
transporting a laser pulse with 3-4 order of magnitude more energy respect to other
IFEL experiments. A particular study of the IFEL interaction including the effect of
the laser diffraction is also presented. The Guoy phase shift that a Gaussian beam
experiences going through a waist is compensated by a gap between two half-
undulators to allow re-phasing of electrons and photons. With this new scheme it is
particularly important to control the effect of the wigglers on the transverse beam
dynamics. At the end we present the results of 3 dimensional simulations of the beam
phase space dynamics.

DEALING WITH TERAWATT LASER

We describe the laser beam with a Gaussian approximation:

i k[x +y ] (z-zw
-,\ kz-ox+<p0 + \_/ l-arctg\
w(z)
(i)

The best possible optical configuration for an IFEL application would be a laser
beam focused at the center of the undulator to a spot size such that the Raleigh range is
comparable with the length of the interaction region, that is the undulator length. To
reach this optimum situation is complicated by the limit set by the damage threshold
of the materials used in the transport system (2J/cm2) [6]. In fact the spot size on the
focusing lens cannot be smaller than 50 cm2 and the focal distance is limited by the
fact that for practical space reasons, the lens cannot be more that 2-3 m away from the
waist point. Using these numbers in the relation valid for Gaussian beams:

250
 / = nwQ Wf IA (2)

where WQ is the initial spot size, we obtain a final spot size Wf of about 0.25 mm, and
the associated Raleigh range of about 2 cm. Focusing a 1 TW CO2 laser beam to this
small spot size will give an electric field at the waist as high as 60 GV/m. Because the
Raleigh range is much shorter than the undulator length, it is important to include the
effect of diffraction in the analysis of the Inverse Free Electron Laser interaction.

A DIFFRACTION-DOMINATED IFEL INTERACTION

The Resonant Acceleration

To describe a diffraction-dominated Inverse Free Electron Laser interaction we
modify the classical IFEL equations [12] to include the diffraction effects, in particular
the dependence of the electric field from the spot size, and the Guoy phase shift effect.

LCz-z^
(3)
— £-
k 1
_i_ fr _ ___ _ _________________

valid for helical geometry with constant undulator parameter K. We assume that the
laser wave amplitude and phase are given, and do not change during the interaction
with the electron beam. If the undulator is properly tapered electrons and photons can
maintain a definite phase relationship and there can be an energy transfer from the
wave to the electrons [2], as shown in Fig. 1 .

Stability Of Acceleration
Fig.2 shows the longitudinal phase space of the electrons. It is evident that going
through the laser waist, the change in parameters, in particular the fast 180Q phase shift
is not adiabatic, and the accelerating bucket concept, useful in describing the dynamics
for slowly changing Hamiltonian [12] is not valid anymore. The accelerating bucket
disappears near the end of the second half-undulator.

251
'
i,
1 QJ6:.
"

FIGURE 1. Energy and wavelength along a constant K optimally tapered undulator

; »: .-At&^Q J m:

» »

•4 -:3; -2 2. e; 4-

FIGURE 2. Longitudinal phase space

252
 Solution Of The Guoy Phase Shift Problem
To avoid this problem we can insert in the region around the laser waist, a gap in
the undulator magnetic field such that electrons and photons have the right
accelerating phase at the entrance of the second undulator section. The laser phase
shift is 180-, and if the length of the gap is given by:

(4)

the electrons slip another 180Q respect of the electromagnetic wave and the resonant
phase is preserved. A 1-dimensional simulation confirms that with this scheme, the
bucket is preserved at the end of the accelerating region.

FIGURE 3. Phase space at the end of the second half-undulator with a gap around the laser waist

Fig.4 clearly shows what happens in the critical region: the resonant phase slips 2n
at the laser waist and the energy starts to grow again when the particle enter the
second half-undulator.

253
 !••
•M
tt

';i
•I'

0;:6. 0:8.
:
:ijft;d:iat();r {i:) Sl^W

FIGURE 4. Resonant phase and resonant energy

UNDULATOR DESIGN
The undulator parameters are in Table 2. The helical geometry is convenient
because the Inverse Free Electron laser interaction is always "turned on". The choice
of keeping constant K is made for convenience. A crucial concern for the undulator
design is the period tapering. The best tapering function is shown in Fig.5. To simplify
the undulator design though, a linear approximation is made to this function in each
half-undulator. The value of K is also increased going from the first interaction region
to the next one. In the first half-undulator K has to be as low as possible to meet the
resonant condition for a 14 MeV electron beam. Then, when the electrons have been
already accelerated, the value of the undulator parameter can be raised to give even
bigger accelerating gradient.

Table 2. Undulator parameters

Parameters 1st half-undulator 2nd half-undulator
Initial KW 1.5 cm 1.5 cm
K 0.5 1.5
B 0.2 T 0.6 T
Undulator length 0.27m 0.27m
Linear tapering coefficient 0.08 0.14

254
 0.4

0.2

-0 . 2
-0 . 4
00 50
50 100 150 200
100 150 200 250
250 300
300

FIGURE
FIGURE5.5.FieldFieldmap
map for
for the
the first half undulator.
first half undulator.B(T)
B(T)vs.
vs.z(mm).
z(mm).Note
Note
thethe linear
linear period
period tapering.
tapering.
Note
Notethat
thatininthe
thebifilar
bifilar design
design the radius of
the radius of the
the winding
windinghelices
heliceswas
wasincreased
increasedto to decrease
decrease thethe field
field
amplitude
amplitudetotomaintain
maintain constant
constant K.

The
Theundulator
undulator parameters
parameters can be achieved
achievedinindifferent
differentways.
ways.Either
Eitherhybrid
hybrid design
design with
with
permanentmagnet
permanent magnet andand iron, or an electromagnetic
electromagneticundulator
undulatorappear
appeartotohave satisfying
have satisfying
performances. As
performances. As aa first step towards
towards undulator
undulatordesign,
design,ininorder
ordertotostudy thethe
study particle
particle
evolution, aa 33 dimensional
evolution, dimensional magnetic
magnetic field
field map
mapform
formRADIA
RADIA[10] [10]waswasgenerated
generated forfor
two bifilar
two bifilar helical
helical undulators
undulators with
with dipole
dipole kickers
kickers atat thetheentrance
entranceand andexit
exitto to
compensatefor
compensate for the
the transverse
transverse kick
kick due
duetotothe
theundulator
undulatormagnetic
magneticfields.
fields.

3D
3D SIMULATION
SIMULATION
th
TREDI [11],
TREDI [11], aa Lienard-Wiechert
Lienard-Wiechert based,based, particle
particletracking
trackingcode,
code,using
using4 4thorder
order
Runge-Kutta, was used to follow the particles in the RADIA 3d map, and the gaussian
Runge-Kutta, was used to follow the particles in the RADIA 3d map, and the gaussian
laser field (1). The results are compatible with the 1-d simulations.
laser field (1). The results are compatible with the 1-d simulations.
The variation of the percentage of captured particles with electron beam size and
The variation
transverse initialofdisplacement
the percentage
of theof position
capturedofparticles withcentroid
the bunch electron beam
(fig. sizebeand
6) can
transverse initial displacement of the position of the bunch centroid
explained observing that because of the gap around the waist is about 2 Raleigh range,(fig. 6) can be
explained observing
the smallest that because
laser beam size that of
thetheelectrons
gap around the waist
see inside the isundulator
about 2 Raleigh
is about range,
0.4
the
mm.smallest laser beam size that the electrons see inside the undulator is about 0.4
mm.

255
 ililiililln. ii..i.illllii
415 vSjQ:; 5-S 6:'0 2;o; m 40 ;;50 eo -TO.-

:.2:5;. 3-0 '3'S- :

4 f i :4:5 50 ' 5 . 5 " ' 6/0 :2;0 3;Q 4;Q. ;5;q;. 60
iu : JEL__

FIGURE 6. Histogram plots of the particle energy -in rest mass unit- at the end of first half-undulator
(on the left) and at the end of second half-undulator (right). The top pictures show the 1-dimensional
results.

S; w
j ^15'
3-
I o-^-:
n?=
:
•1 ^1:5;.

"C
& SiflfSt-

; Q;:! the. •

FIGURE 7. Variation of the percentage of captured particle with transverse parameters. Initial
displacement and initial beam size.

256
 CONCLUSION
The results of the initial study of the Inverse Free Electron Laser Accelerator at the
Neptune Lab at UCLA are summarized in Table 3.

Table 3. IFEL parameters

Initial energy ISMeV
Final energy 75MeV
Averaged energy gradient 100 MeV/m
Microbunch length 10 fs
Fraction of particle within a 10% width at the final 0.40
energy

The limit on the charge that can be accelerated by this system is set evaluating
when the longitudinal space charge force becomes comparable with the bunching
force. This limit is about 2000 A. The Neptune beam has an average current of 500 A.
The power efficiency of the accelerator is 10 %. Finally, the calculations including the
synchrotron radiation effects show that this effect at these low electron energies is
negligible. The proposed solution to the problem of focusing and transporting the high
power laser is not the only one possible. Laser waveguides, or the optical properties of
an already ionized medium can also solve the problem and we will study them in the
future. The initial calculations and the simulation result show, however, that
interesting results can be obtained in this diffraction-dominated configuration.

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