Precise and Fast Beam Energy Measurement

For the physics program at the International Linear Collider (ILC), an excellent bunch-by-bunch control of the beam energy is mandatory. Energy spectrometers upstream and downstream of the electron/positron interaction point were proposed and the present default option for the upstream spectrometer is a beam position monitor based (BPM-based) spectrometer. In 2006/2007, a prototype of such a device was commissioned at the End Station A beam line at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in order to study performance and reliability. In addition, a novel method based on laser Compton backscattering has been proposed, since as proved at the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP) and the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC), complementary methods are necessary to cross-check the results of the BPM-based spectrometer. In this thesis, an overview of the experiment at End Station A is given, with emphasis on the performance of the magnets in the chicane and first energy resolution estimations. Also, the novel Compton backscattering method is discussed in details and found to be very promising. It has the potential to bring the beam energy resolution well below the requirement.