Ultra short bunches with high peak current are required for the creation
of high brilliance coherent light in the vacuum ultra violet range in
undulators. At the free electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) they are obtained
by a two stage bunch compression scheme based on off the rf field crest
acceleration and transverse magnetic chicanes.
Variations of the rf fields cause beam energy and phase variations.
They have a significant influence on the overall performance of the facility.
The talk gives an overview on the rf and beam control methods used for
stabilizing the rf fields at the normal conducting rf gun and the
superconducting accelerating modules. Methods used for examining the rf and
beam stability are presented together with recent results.