The plane makes a $45^\circ$ angle with the height of the cylinder. The semi-major axis is the shortest radius of the ellipse, which is equal to the radius of the cylinder, i.e. $1$. The semi-major axis is $1\div\cos45^\circ=\sqrt{2}$.
Or you may rotate the system by $\pmatrix{x\\y\\z}=\pmatrix{1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} & \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\\\\ 0 & -\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} & \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\pmatrix{X\\Y\\Z}$.
The equation of the cylinder becomes $\displaystyle X^2+\left(\frac{Y+Z}{\sqrt{2}}\right)^2=1$.
The equation of the plane becomes $\displaystyle \frac{-Y+Z}{\sqrt{2}}=\frac{Y+Z}{\sqrt{2}}+3$, i.e., $\displaystyle Y=-\frac{3}{\sqrt{2}}$.
Solving, we have the intersection $\displaystyle X^2+\left(\frac{-\frac{3}{\sqrt{2}}+Z}{\sqrt{2}}\right)^2=1$, which is an ellipse with semi-major axis $\sqrt{2}$ and semi-minor axis $1$.