Classical and quantum beam dynamics simulation of the RF photoinjector test bench

Abstract

We present beam-dynamics simulations for an S-band RF photoinjector test bench under development at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, aimed at producing high-quality electron beams and enabling future generation of relativistic vortex electrons with a quantized orbital angular momentum (OAM). Simulations of the 1.5-cell photogun are performed assuming an RF gradient of 45 MV/m, which, in accordance with our simulations with CST Studio, corresponds to the currently achieved input RF power of 3 MW. At low charge (Q = 0.63 pC), stable bunch formation is obtained, with weak space-charge effects and transverse emittance dominated by RF-induced correlations. Optimization of the injection phase and cathode solenoid results in a robust emittance-compensated regime with a final normalized emittance of 2.08 pi mm mrad. To assess prospects for accelerating vortex electron beams, we additionally model the quantum evolution of single-electron Laguerre-Gaussian wave packets. The results show that multi-MeV acceleration suppresses free-space spreading of the electron packet and preserves the packet's initial OAM structure, indicating that the test bench provides suitable conditions for forthcoming experimental studies of relativistic vortex electrons.