Study of generic front-end designs for erl based light sources

We present work directed at examining the performance of various front end components of an ERL based light source. These include electron source, bunch compression, merger, and accelerating sections, with parameter space dictated by proposed facilities (at FSU and Peking University). These facilities share enough common structural features to make the study applicable to both to a large extent. In this report we will discuss the 6D phase space evolution through the front end based on simulation, with reliable modeling of magnetic and superconducting RF fields. Discussion will be devoted to relative merits of alternative designs, robustness and operational scenarios.