Direct numerical methods for solving the Vlasov equation offer some advantages over macroparticle simulations, as they do not suffer from the consequences of the statistical fluctuations inherent in using a number of macroparticles smaller than the bunch population. Unfortunately, these methods are more time consuming and generally considered impractical in a full 6D phase space. However, in a lower-dimension phase space they may become attractive if the beam dynamics is sensitive to the presence of small charge-density fluctuations and a high resolution is needed. In this paper we present a 2D Vlasov solver for studying the longitudinal beam dynamics in single-pass systems of interest for x-ray FELs, where characterization of the microbunching instability stemming from self-field amplified noise is of particular relevance.

• Received 9 April 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.10.054403

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