Self-consistent simulation of radiation and space-charge in high-brightness relativistic electron beams

Abstract

The ability to preserve the quality of relativistic electron beams through transport bend elements such as a bunch compressor chicane is increasingly difficult as the current increases because of effects such as coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) and space-charge. Theoretical CSR models and simulations, in their current state, often make unrealistic assumptions about the beam dynamics and/or structures. Therefore, we have developed a model and simulation that contains as many of these elements as possible for the purpose of making high-fidelity end-to-end simulations. Specifically, we are able to model, in a completely self-consistent, three-dimensional manner, the sustained interaction of radiation and space-charge from a relativistic electron beam in a toroidal waveguide with rectangular cross-section. We have accomplished this by combining a time-domain field solver that integrates a paraxial wave equation valid in a waveguide when the dimensions are small compared to the bending radius with a particle-in-cell dynamics code. The result is shown to agree with theory under a set of constraints, namely thin rigid beams, showing the stimulation resonant modes and including comparisons for waveguides approximating vacuum, and parallel plate shielding. Using a rigid beam, we also develop a scaling for the effect of beam width, comparing both our simulation and numerical integration of the retarded potentials. We further demonstrate the simulation calculates the correct longitudinal space-charge forces to produce the appropriate potential depression for a converging beam in a straight waveguide with constant dimensions. We then run fully three-dimensional, self-consistent end-to-end simulations of two types of bunch compressor designs, illustrating some of the basic scaling properties and perform a detailed analysis of the output phase-space distribution. Lastly, we show the unique ability of our simulation to model the evolution of charge/energy perturbations on a relativistic bunch in a toroidal waveguide.