• M.J. Lee, W.J. Corbett, J. Wu
  SLAC, Menlo Park, California

An x-ray Free-Electron Laser (FEL) calls for a high brightness electron beam. Generically, such a beam needs to be accelerated to high energy on the GeV level and compressed down to tens of microns, if not a few microns. The very bright electron beam required for the FEL has to be stable and the high quality of the electron beam has to be preserved during the acceleration and bunch compression. With a newly developed model independent global optimizer [*], here we report study for the control and error diagnostics of such a generic machine: magnetic elements, and RF cavities, and the electron beam parameters: the peak current, centroid energy, and trajectory. Collective effects, such as coherent synchrotron radiation, space charge, and various wakefields are incorporated in a parametric approach. Applicability and verification are detailed for the LINAC Coherent Light Source, an x-ray FEL project being commissioned at SLAC.