Commissioning the New LCLS X-band Transverse Deflecting Cavity with Femtosecond Resolution

The new X-band transverse deflecting cavity began operation in May 2013 and is installed downstream of the LCLS undulator. It is operated at the full 120 Hz beam rate without interfering with the normal FEL operation for the photon users. The deflected beam is observed on the electron beam dump profile monitor, which acts as an energy spectrometer in the vertical plane. We observe, on a pulse by pulse basis, the time resolved energy profile of the spent electron beam from the undulator. The structure is powered from a 50 MW X-band klystron, giving a 48 MV kick to the beam which yields a 1 fs rms time resolution on the screen. We have measured the longitudinal profile of the electron bunches both with the FEL operating and with the lasing suppressed, allowing reconstruction of both the longitudinal profile of the incoming electron beam and the time-resolved profile of the X-ray pulse generated in the FEL. We are immediately able to see whether the bunch is chirped and which parts of the bunch are lasing, giving us new insight into tuning the machine for peak performance. The performance of the system will be presented along with examples of measurements taken during LCLS operation.