Novel Single Shot Bunch Length Diagnostic Using Coherent Diffraction Radiation

Current beam bunch length monitors that measure the spectral content of beam-associated coherent radiation to determine the longitudinal bunch form factor usually require wide bandwidth detection, Fourier transformation of spectral or interferometric data, phase retrieval algorithms and multiple beam pulses to obtain the bunch length. In this paper we discuss progress in the development of a novel single shot method that utilizes the frequency integrated angular distribution (AD) of coherent diffraction radiation (CDR) to measure the RMS bunch length directly. We also present simulation results that show how the AD changes with bunch length for two electron beam linacs, where we are planning to test this new method, our single shot measurement technique and plans for comparison to other bunch length monitors.