Analysis of a novel diffractive scanning-wire beam position monitor (BPM) for discriminative profiling of electron vs. X-ray beams

Recent numerical studies of Free Electron Lasers (FELs) operating in the Self Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) regime indicate a large sensitivity of the gain to the degree of transverse overlap (and associated phase coherence) between the electron and photon beams traveling down the insertion device. Simulations of actual systems imply that accurate detection and correction for this relative loss of overlap, rather than correction for the absolute departure of the electron beam from a fixed axis, is the preferred function of an FEL amplifier´s Beam Position Monitor (BPM) and corrector systems. In this note we propose a novel diffractive BPM with the capability of simultaneously detecting and resolving the absolute (and relative) transverse positions and profiles of electron and X-ray beams co-propagating through an undulator. We derive the equations governing the performance of the BPM and examine its predicted performance for the SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), viz., for profiling multi-GeV electron bunches co-propagating with one-to-several-hundred keV X-ray beams. Selected research and development (R&D) tasks for fabricating and testing the proposed BPM are discussed