Electron diffraction intensity from single crystal silicon in a photoinjector

1. A method, comprising:

simulating diffraction in a transmission geometry of relativistic electron bunches from a crystallographic structure of a crystal, thereby simulating diffraction of the relativistic electron bunches into a plurality of Bragg peaks;

selecting, based on the simulated diffraction of the relativistic electron bunches from the crystallographic structure, a range of angles between a direction of propagation of the relativistic electron bunches and a normal direction of crystal, wherein the range of angles is selected to include an angle at which a diffraction portion into a respective Bragg peak of the plurality of Bragg peaks is maximized;

sequentially accelerating a plurality of physical electron bunches to relativistic energies, wherein the plurality of physical electron bunches are accelerated toward a physical crystal having the crystallographic structure;

diffracting the plurality of physical electron bunches off the physical crystal at different angles within the range of angles;

measuring the diffraction portion into the respective Bragg peak at the different angles within the range of angles;

selecting a final angle based on the measured diffraction portion into the respective Bragg peak at the different angles within the range of angles;

generating a pulse of light, including:

accelerating a subsequent physical electron bunch to a relativistic energy;

diffracting the subsequent physical electron bunch off the physical crystal at final angle; and

generating the pulse of light using the diffracted subsequent physical electron bunch.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

diffracting the subsequent physical electron bunch off the physical crystal at the final angle partitions the subsequent physical electron bunch in a direction substantially transverse to the direction of propagation of the subsequent physical electron bunch;

the pulse of light is generated with the subsequent physical electron bunch partitioned in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of propagation of the subsequent physical electron bunch; and

the method further includes:

prior to generating the pulse of light using the partitioned subsequent physical electron bunch, performing an emittance exchange on the partitioned subsequent physical electron bunch.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the pulse of light using the partitioned electron bunch comprises scattering the partitioned electron bunch off of light from a laser.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the pulse of light using the partitioned electron bunch comprises subjecting the partitioned electron bunch to an undulator.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the simulation of the diffraction in the transmission geometry is performed using a multi-slice method.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the crystal is a silicon crystal.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the crystallographic structure is a Si(100) crystallographic structure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pulse of light comprises x-rays.