Towards Real-time Programmable Laser-based Photoinjector Shaping for LCLS-II and Beyond

The next generation of high brightness X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL), such as SLAC’s LCLS-II, promises to address current challenges associated with systems with low X-ray cross-sections. A key component of XFELs is the photoinjector [1], which produces the electron beams (e-beams) whose phase-space determines the performance of the XFEL. Active e-beam manipulation techniques and diagnostics are required in order to fully capitalize on this new generation of XFELs. We examine a possible solution for adaptive e-beam shaping using a hardware-based machine learning implementation of real-time photoinjector laser manipulation. Our presentation will provide an overview of this project, the five-year goals, and the work both completed and currently underway, in particular simulations of the system and hardware design for the requisite real-time X-ray diagnostics. We anticipate this approach to not only enable active experimental control of X-ray pulse characteristics but also to increase the operational capacity of future e-beam sources and accelerator facilities.

1. Gilevich, Sasha, et al. "The LCLS-II Photo-Injector Drive Laser System." 2020 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO). IEEE, 2020.