A New Bunch Compressor Chicane for the SLAC Linac to Produce 30-FSEC, 30-KA, 30-GeV Electron Bunches

We describe a new bunch compressor chicane for the SLAC linac, which will be used in conjunction with other existing systems, to generate 30-fsec long, 30-GeV electron bunches with up to 30-kA of peak current. The new compressor is a four-dipole chicane located at the 1/3rd point in the linac. It should be installed by October of 2002. The chicane adds a second stage of compression to the linac, where the existing damping ring with its present bunch compressor form the first stage. With this new second-stage compressing from 4 psec to 160 fsec rms, the existing FFTB beamline can easily be adjusted to serve as a third stage and allow final compression down to a minimum of nearly 30-fsec rms. We describe the design considerations of the chicane, which is used to enhance plasma wakefield experiments and also to support the production very high brightness short pulse x-rays.