Reduction of bend-plane emittance growth in a chicane pulse compressor

Emittance preservation in beam bending systems is vitally important in the production of bright, high-current electron microbunches. Generally, the emittance increase occurs in the bend plane and results from changes in the microbunch energy distribution as the beam transits the bend. This redistribution of electron energies increases the beamʹs divergence, and hence the emittance, by spoiling the achromatic transport of the bending system. In this paper we investigate the correlated emittance growth in a three dipole chicane compressor due to coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR). Breaking the symmetry of the chicane partially cancels the CSR-induced correlation thereby reducing the bend plane emittance growth. The consequences of this emittance compensation scheme are discussed.