Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The Twiss parameters provide a convenient description of beam optics in uncoupled linear beamlines. For coupled beamlines, a variety of approaches are possible for describing the linear optics; here, we propose an approach and notation that naturally generalizes the familiar Twiss parameters to the coupled case in three degrees of freedom. Our approach is based on an eigensystem analysis of the matrix of second-order beam moments, or alternatively (in the case of a storage ring) on an eigensystem analysis of the linear single-turn map. The lattice functions that emerge from this approach have an interpretation that is conceptually very simple: in particular, the lattice functions directly relate the beam distribution in phase space to the invariant emittances. To emphasize the physical significance of the coupled lattice functions, we develop the theory from first principles, using only the assumption of linear symplectic transport. We also give some examples of the application of this approach, demonstrating its advantages of conceptual and notational simplicity.