• D.R. Gillingham, T. M. Antonsen
  IREAP, College Park, Maryland

Funding: Work supported by the Office of Naval Research and the Joint Technology Office.

High power Free Electron Laser (FEL) designs require high-brightness beams. These beams may suffer beam quality degradation during transport through bending sections from effects that were previously insignificant at low bunch charges. Potential mechanisms include microbunching from longitudinal space-charge and transverse emittance dilution from coherent synchrotron radiation. The effects are not well-understood in the transient state, in the presence of conducting boundaries or when these effects operate together and in conjunction with the beam dynamics. A simulation method applicable under the conditions of a MW-class average power FEL driver has been developed that accounts for radiation, space-charge and boundary conditions in a self-consistent manner. This simulation may be useful in evaluating design concepts under consideration including chicane bunch compressors and energy recovery bending arcs.