HOMDYN study for the LCLS RF photo-injector

The authors report the results of a recent beam dynamics study, motivated by the need to redesign the LCLS photoinjector, that led to the discovery of a new effective working point for a split RF photoinjector. The HOMDYN code, the main simulation tool adopted in this work, is described together with its recent improvements. The new working point and its LCLS application is discussed. Validation tests of the HOMDYN model and low emittance predictions, 0.3 mm-mrad for a 1 nC flat top bunch, are performed with respect to the multi-particle tracking codes ITACA and PARMELA