First Results of Commissioning of the PITZ Transverse Deflecting Structure

For successful operation of X-ray Free Electron Lasers, one crucial parameter is the ultrashort electron bunch length yielding a high peak current and a short saturation length. In order to effectively compress the bunches during the acceleration process, a detailed understanding of the full longitudinal phase space distribution already in the injector is required. Transverse deflecting RF structures (TDS) can shear the bunch transversely, mapping the longitudinal coordinate to a transverse axis on an observation screen downstream. In addition to the bunch length, the slice emittance along the bunch as well as the full longitudinal phase space can be obtained. At the Photo Injector Test Facility at DESY, Zeuthen site (PITZ), an S-band traveling wave TDS is under commissioning since 2015. This cavity is a prototype for the TDS in the injector part of the European XFEL and has been designed and manufactured by the Institute for Nuclear Research (INR RAS, Moscow, Russia). In this paper, first commissioning results of the system at PITZ are presented and discussed.