Infrared Spectroscope for Electron Bunch-length Measurement: Heat Sensor Parameters Analysis

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is used for many experiments. Taking advantage of the free electron laser (FEL) process, scientists of various fields perform experiments of all kind. Some for example study protein folding; other experiments are more interested in the way electrons interact with the molecules before they are destroyed. These experiments among many others have very little information about the electrons x-ray produced by the FEL, except that the FEL is using bunches less than 10 femtoseconds long. To be able to interpret the data collected from those experiments, more accurate information is needed about the electron's bunch-length. Existing bunch length measurement techniques are not suitable for the measurement of such small time scales. Hence the need to design a device that will provide more precise information about the electron bunch length. This paper investigates the use of a pyreoelectric heat sensor that has a sensitivity of about 1.34 micro amps per watt for the single cell detector. Such sensitivity, added to the fact that the detector is an array sensor, makes the detector studied the primary candidate to be integrated to an infrared spectrometer designed to better measure the LCLS electron bunch length.