Merit functions for the linac optics design for colliders and light sources

Optics matching and transverse emittance preservation are key goals for a successful operation of modern high brightness electron linacs. The capability of controlling them in a real machine critically relies on a properly designed magnetic lattice. Conscious of this fact, we introduce an ensemble of optical functions that permit to solve the often neglected conflict between strong focusing, typically implemented to counteract coherent synchrotron radiation and transverse wakefield instability, and distortion of the transverse phase space induced by chromatic aberrations and focusing errors. A numerical evaluation of merit functions is applied to existing and planned linac-based free electron lasers.