Electro-optic techniques in electron beam diagnostics

Abstract

Electron accelerators such as laser wakefield accelerators, linear accelerators driving free electron lasers, or femto-sliced synchrotrons, are capable of producing femtosecond-long electron bunches. Single-shot characterization of the temporal charge profile is crucial for operation, optimization, and application of such accelerators. A variety of electro-optic sampling (EOS) techniques exists for the temporal analysis. In EOS, the field profile from the electron bunch (or the field profile from its coherent radiation) will be transferred onto a laser pulse co-propagating through an electro-optic crystal. This paper will address the most common EOS schemes and will list their advantages and limitations. Strong points that all techniques share are the ultra-short time resolution (tens of femtoseconds) and the single-shot capabilities. Besides introducing the theory behind EOS, data from various research groups is presented for each technique.