Determination of the Slice Energy Spread of Ultra-Relativistic Electron Beams by Scanning Seeded Coherent Undulator Radiation

Modern high-gain free-electron lasers make use of high-brightness ultra-relativistic electron beams. The uncorrelated energy spread of these beams is upon creation of the beam in the sub-permille range and below the resolution of state-of-the-art diagnostics. One method to determine the slice energy spread is to use an external seed laser to imprint a coherent microbunching structure that gives rise to coherent radiation processes, different radiation sources such as transition radiation, synchrotron radiation, or undulator radiation and others. Here, we present a method and show measurements to determine the slice energy spread using an external seed laser with 266 nm wavelength to produce coherent undulator radiation at higher harmonics. The distribution of these harmonics allows retrieval of the electron beam slice energy spread with high precision