FEL simulations for the LCLS

A first design study report has recently been completed (The LCLS Design Study Group, LCLS Design Study Report, April 1998, SLAC-R-521) for the linac coherent light source (LCLS), a proposal to build an X-ray free electron laser (FEL) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) as a single pass self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) amplifier. The proposal includes the use of a very low emittance electron beam accelerated up to 15 GeV by the last third of the SLAC linac to produce sub-picosecond X-ray pulses with high brightness and full transverse coherence in a 112-m long undulator. Many aspects of the FEL design have been analyzed with FEL simulation codes. The paper discusses some of the results of these aspects, i.e. temporal X-ray pulse structure and power spectrum, trajectory errors and effects of undulator beam tube wakefields.