Previously, measurements in the visible to VUV regimes of z-dependent microbunching in a self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL) have provided important information about the fundamental mechanisms. In those experiments a thin metal foil was used to block the more intense SASE radiation and to generate coherent optical transition radiation (COTR) as one source in a two-foil interferometer. However, for the proposed Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the intense SASE emission is either too strongly transmitted at 1.5 angstroms or the needed foil thickness for blocking scatters the electron beam too much. Since coherent x-ray transition radiation (CXTR) is emitted in an annulus with opening angle 1/γ = 36 µrad for 14.09-GeV electrons, one could use a thin foil or foil stack to generate the XTR and CXTR and an annular crystal to wavelength sort the radiation. The combined selectivity will favor the CXTR over SASE by about eight orders of magnitude. Time-dependent GINGER simulations support the z-dependent gain evaluation plan.

We have been addressing fundamental aspects of the microbunching that is induced by the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL) process using coherent optical transition radiation interferometry (COTRI) techniques. Over the last several years we have extended operations from the visible to the VUV regime at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) low-energy undulator test line (LEUTL) project. We have now performed our first direct comparisons of the results of an analytical model to COTRI experimental data at 540, 265, and 157 nm. The direct comparisons illustrate a number of details in the images that are not matched by the simplifying assumption of a single Gaussian transverse beam profile of the size consistent with the incoherent OTR measurements. This result indicates there are localized transverse portions of the beam distribution with a higher bunching fraction than the mean. The different beam energies used result in different overlaps of relevant functions,and this aspect probed the model’s applicability and sensitivities.