Parameter selection and longitudinal phase space simulation for a single stage X-band FEL driver at 250 MeV

Hard x-ray Free electron lasers (FEL) are being built or proposed at many accelerator laboratories as it supports wide range of applications in many aspects. Most of the hard x-ray FEL design is similar with the SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), which features a two (or multiple) stage bunch compression. For the first stage of the bunch compression, usually the beam is accelerated in a lower-frequency RF section (such as S-band for LCLS), and then the longitudinal phase space is linearized by a higher-frequency RF section (harmonic RF, such as X-band for LCLS). In this paper, a compact hard x-ray FEL design is proposed, which is based on X-band RF acceleration and eliminating the need of a harmonic RF. The parameter selection and relation is discussed, and the longitudinal phase space simulation is presented.