Heishun Zen

Lasing at 12 µm Mid-Infrared Free-Electron Laser in Kyoto University

Laser amplification using a 12 µm mid-infrared free-electron laser (MIR-FEL) was observed at the Institute of Advanced Energy (IAE), Kyoto University. A 25 MeV electron beam of 17 A peak current was used for the lasing experiment. A beam loading compensation method with an RF amplitude control in the thermionic RF gun was used to extend the macropulse duration against the backbombardment effect in the thermionic RF gun. As a result, an electron beam with a 4 µs duration was generated. A laser output with an intensity 50 times as high as the spontaneous emission intensity was observed. FEL gain was estimated to be 16% from the exponential growth of the laser output signal, and a cavity loss of 2.8% was estimated from the decay of the laser output signal. Three-dimensional (3D) FEL simulation was also performed to achieve the gain saturation in our FEL device.

Low-Temperature Operation of a Bulk HTSC Staggered Array Undulator

A use of bulk high-temperature superconductors (HTSs) for an undulator is attractive since a high magnetic field can be generated at low-temperatures. While potential for generation of the high magnetic field is high, in-situ magnetization of the bulk HTSs for periodic field generation is challenging issue. Recently, we proposed a new type of undulator using bulk high-Tc superconductors (HTS) and a solenoid magnet. The undulator, named Bulk HTSC staggered array undulator (Bulk HTSC SAU), consists of a stacked array of bulk HTSs and copper insulators and a solenoid magnet. A proof of principle experiment at 77 K using liquid nitrogen has been carried out. The estimated performance at about 30 K was estimated using results of property measurements for the HTS used for the Bulk HTSC SAU. The expected undulator peak field reaches to 1.08 T for undulator period length of 9.9 mm for the undulator gap of 4.0 mm. This performance is about 2 times higher than that of existing technologies.

Pulse duration and wavelength stability measurements of a midinfrared free-electron laser

We report the pulse duration and wavelength stability measurements of a midinfrared free-electron laser (FEL) where the wavelength fluctuation may not be negligible. The technique we employ is a fringe-resolved autocorrelation (FRAC) method that has good sensitivity on not only the pulse duration and the chirp but also the wavelength stability. By the simple manipulation of experimental FRAC signals, we can obtain the pulse duration even if the amounts of the chirp and the wavelength stability are not known in advance, which is further used to estimate the wavelength stability. Through this procedure we find that the pulse duration of the Kyoto University FEL at 12 μm is about 0.58 ps without any notable chirp, and the wavelength stability is about 1.3%. We also carry out separate experiments for intensity autocorrelation and sum-frequency mixing. The difference we find for pulse duration and wavelength stability by the different measurements is attributed to the different operation conditions of FEL.

Analysis of SNIP Algorithm for Background Estimation in Spectra Measured with LaBr3: Ce Detectors

LaBr3:Ce scintillating detectors exhibit excellent properties for γ-ray spectroscopy such as high energy resolution and operation under room temperature as well as MHz counting rates. On the other hand, sever background radiations exist due to the internal contamination of radioactive materials that are very difficult to be avoided during the manufacture. To decrease the effect of these background levels, some analytical techniques, e.g. background subtraction, should be applied. In the present work, we investigate the efficiency of the sensitive nonlinear iterative clipping peak (SNIP) method for background estimation and subtraction. Optimization of the clipping window is discussed for range of energy up to 3 MeV. Enhancement of energy resolution up to 50% was obtained.

Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence of 235U Measured with High-Resolution LaBr3(Ce) Scintillation Detectors

A nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) experiment was performed on a 235U target with quasi-monochromatic γ-rays at the High Intensity γ-ray Source (HIγS) facility using a 1733 keV resonant energy. A LaBr3(Ce) detector array consisting of eight cylindrical detectors, each with a length of 7.62 cm and a diameter of 3.81 cm, was implemented in this measurement. Moreover, a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector array consisting of four detectors, each of which has a relative efficiency of 60%, was used as the benchmark for the measurement taken using the LaBr3(Ce) detector array. The integrated cross section of the NRF level, measured with LaBr3(Ce) detectors, showed good agreement with the available data.

Reducing Energy Degradation Due to Back‐bombardment Effect with Modulated RF Input in S‐band Thermionic RF Gun

Energy degradation due to back‐bombardment effect is quite serious to produce high‐brightness electron beam with long macro‐pulse with thermionic rf gun. To avoid the back‐bombardment problem, a laser photo cathode is used at many FEL facilities, but usually it costs high and not easy to operate. Thus we have studied long pulse operation of the rf gun with thermionic cathode, which is inexpensive and easy to operate compared to the photocathode rf gun. In this work, to reduce the energy degradation, we controlled input rf power amplitude by controlling pulse forming network of the power modulator for klystron. We have successfully increased the pulse duration up to 4 μs by increasing the rf power from 7.8 MW to 8.5 MW during the macro pulse.

Investigation of the Electrical Field Sensitivity of Sub-μm Y–Ba–Cu–O Detectors

The behavior of submicrometer-sized thin-film YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) detectors under illumination with picosecond terahertz (THz) pulses was investigated. Real-time measurements with a temporal resolution of 15 ps full width at half maximum were performed at ANKA, the synchrotron facility of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the UVSOR-III facility at the Institute for Molecular Science in Okazaki, Japan. The capability of YBCO detectors to reproduce the shape of a several picosecond long THz pulse was demonstrated. Single-shot measurements adhering to a reversal of the direction of the electrical field of the THz radiation were carried out. They provided evidence for the electrical field sensitivity of the YBCO detector. Exploiting the electrical field sensitivity of the YBCO detector, the effect of microbunching was observed at UVSOR-III.

Damage threshold and focusability of mid-infrared free-electron laser pulses gated by a plasma mirror with nanosecond switching pulses

The presence of a pulse train structure of an oscillator-type free-electron laser (FEL) results in the immediate damage of a solid target upon focusing. We demonstrate that the laser-induced damage threshold can be significantly improved by gating the mid-infrared FEL pulses with a plasma mirror. Although the switching pulses we employ have a nanosecond duration which does not guarantee the clean wavefront of the gated FEL pulses, the high focusability is experimentally confirmed through the observation of spectral broadening by a factor of 2.1 when we tightly focus the gated FEL pulses onto the Ge plate.

Beam Energy Compensation in a Thermionic RF Gun by Cavity Detuning

A thermionic RF gun usually suffers from a rapid decrease of electron beam energy caused by a rapid increase of beam current due to the back-bombardment effect. The authors propose a new method named ldquocavity detuningrdquo to keep the electron beam energy constant. This method detunes the resonant frequency of the gun cavity to a frequency that is lower (by several hundred kilohertz) than the driving frequency. A proof-of-principle experiment was carried out using a 4.5 cell S-band RF gun. The beam energy was successfully kept constant during a macro-pulse duration of 7.5 mus using a cavity detuning of -590 kHz, even with a significant current increase from 240 to 660 mA. A numerical simulation was also conducted to evaluate the cathode temperature, the current density on the cathode surface, and the phase stability of the output beam. All results demonstrated that cavity detuning provides an easy and simple way to compensate for the energy decrease in thermionic RF guns.

Nondestructive Inspection System for Special Nuclear Material Using Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Neutrons and Laser Compton Scattering Gamma-Rays

A Neutron/Gamma-ray combined inspection system for hidden special nuclear materials (SNMs) in cargo containers has been developed under a program of Japan Science and Technology Agency in Japan. This inspection system consists of an active neutron-detection system for fast screening and a laser Compton backscattering gamma-ray source in coupling with nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) method for precise inspection. The inertial electrostatic confinement fusion device has been adopted as a neutron source and two neutron-detection methods, delayed neutron noise analysis method and high-energy neutron-detection method, have been developed to realize the fast screening system. The prototype system has been constructed and tested in the Reactor Research Institute, Kyoto University. For the generation of the laser Compton backscattering gamma-ray beam, a race track microtron accelerator has been used to reduce the size of the system. For the NRF measurement, an array of LaBr3(Ce) scintillation detectors has been adopted to realize a low-cost detection system. The prototype of the gamma-ray system has been demonstrated in the Kansai Photon Science Institute, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology. By using numerical simulations based on the data taken from these prototype systems and the inspection-flow, the system designed by this program can detect 1 kg of highly enriched 235U (HEU) hidden in an empty 20-ft container within several minutes.