Computation of the Longitudinal Space Charge Effect in Photoinjectors

The LCLS Photoinjector produces a 100A, 10 ps long electron bunch which is later compressed down to 230 fs to produce the peak current required for generating SASE radiation. SASE saturation will be reached in the LCLS only if the emittance and uncorrelated energy spread remain respectively below 1.2 mm.mrad and 5.10-4. This high beam quality will not be met if the Longitudinal Space Charge (LSC) instability develops in the injector and gets amplified in the compressors. The LSC instability originates in the injector beamline, from an initial modulation on top of the photoelectron pulse leaving the cathode. Numerical computations, performed with Multiparticle Space Charge tracking codes, showing the evolution of the longitudinal phase space along the LCLS injector beamline, are discussed. Their results are compared with those deduced from theoretical models in different regimes of energy and acceleration and for different modulation wavelengths. This study justifies the necessity to insert a ''laser heater'' in the LCLS Photoinjector beamline