We propose a general method for tailoring the current distribution of
relativistic electron bunches. The technique relies on a recently proposed
method to exchange the longitudinal phase space emittance with one of the
transverse emittances. The method consists of transversely shaping the bunch
and then converting its transverse profile into a current profile via a
transverse-to-longitudinal phase-space-exchange beamline. We show that it is
possible to tailor the current profile to follow, in principle, any desired
distributions. We demonstrate, via computer simulations, the application of the
method to generate trains of microbunches with tunable spacing and
linearly-ramped current profiles. We also briefly explore potential
applications of the technique.Comment: 13 pages, 17 figure
