Conceptual design of a charged particle beam energy spectrometer utilizing transition radiation grating

A new technique of measuring the energy spectrum of a charged particle beam using optical transition radiation is presented in this paper. The charged particle beam energy spectrum can be studied by analyzing the optical spectrum of the optical transition radiation produced in a multi-foil configuration. This type of energy spectrometer can have a very large energy acceptance which can not be matched by a simple conventional magnetic dipole spectrometer. The theory of transition radiation from a single boundary and from a foil with finite thickness are reviewed. Multi-foil transition radiation theory and its application for charged particle beam energy spectrum measurement are presented. The practical issues which may affect the performance of a multi-foil transition radiation energy spectrometer are discussed.