Nonlinear electrostatic emittance compensation in kA, fs electron bunches

Nonlinear space-charge effects play an important role in emittance growth in the production of kA electron bunches with a bunch length much smaller than the bunch diameter. We propose a scheme employing the radial third-order component of an electrostatic acceleration field, to fully compensate the nonlinear space-charge effects. This results in minimal transverse root-mean-square emittance. The principle is demonstrated using our design simulations of a device for the production of high-quality, high-current, subpicosecond electron bunches using electrostatic acceleration in a 1 GV/m field. Simulations using the GPT code produce a bunch of 100 pC and 73 fs full width at half maximum pulse width, resulting in a peak current of about 1.2 kA at an energy of 2 MeV. The compensation scheme reduces the root-mean-square emittance by 34% to 0.4π mm mrad.