Electron Signal Detection for the Beam-finder Wire of the Linac Coherent Light Source Undulator∗

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is a SASE xray Free-Electron Laser (FEL) based on the final kilometer of the Stanford Linear Accelerator. The tight tolerances for positioning the electron beam close to the undulator axis calls for the introduction of Beam Finder Wire (BFW) device. A BFW device close to the upstream end of the undulator segment and a quadrupole close to the down stream end of the undulator segment will allow a beam-based undulator segment alignment. Based on the scattering of the electrons on the BFW, we can detect the electron signal in the main dump bends after the undulator to find the beam position. We propose to use a threshold Cherenkov counter for this purpose. According to the signal strength at such a Cherenkov counter, we then suggest choice of material and size for such a BFW device in the undulator.