M. Bellaveglia

Characterization of the THz radiation source at the Frascati linear accelerator

The linac driven coherent THz radiation source at the SPARC-LAB test facility is able to deliver broadband THz pulses with femtosecond shaping. In addition, high peak power, narrow spectral bandwidth THz radiation can be also generated, taking advantage of advanced electron beam manipulation techniques, able to generate an adjustable train of electron bunches with a sub-picosecond length and with sub-picosecond spacing. The paper reports on the manipulation, characterization, and transport of the electron beam in the bending line transporting the beam down to the THz station, where different coherent transition radiation spectra have been measured and studied with the aim to optimize the THz radiation performances.

Electron Linac design to drive bright Compton back-scattering gamma-ray sources

The technological development in the field of high brightness linear accelerators and high energy/high quality lasers enables today designing high brilliance Compton-X and Gamma-photon beams suitable for a wide range of applications in the innovative field of nuclear photonics. The challenging requirements of this kind of source comprise: tunable energy (1–20 MeV), very narrow bandwidth (0.3%), and high spectral density (104 photons/s/eV). We present here a study focused on the design and the optimization of an electron Linac aimed to meet the source specifications of the European Extreme Light Infrastructure—Nuclear Physics project, currently funded and seeking for an innovative machine design in order to outperform state-of-the-art facilities. We show that the phase space density of the electron beam, at the collision point against the laser pulse, is the main quality factor characterizing the Linac.

The SPARC linear accelerator based terahertz source

Ultra-short electron beams, produced through the velocity bunching compression technique, are used to drive the SPARC linear accelerator based source, which relies on the emission of coherent transition radiation in the terahertz range. This paper reports on the main features of this radiation, as terahertz source, with spectral coverage up to 5 THz and pulse duration down to 200 fs, with an energy per pulse of the order of several micro-joule, and as electron beam longitudinal diagnostics.

Strong nonlinear terahertz response induced by Dirac surface states in Bi2Se3 topological insulator

Electrons with a linear energy/momentum dispersion are called massless Dirac electrons and represent the low-energy excitations in exotic materials such as graphene and topological insulators. Dirac electrons are characterized by notable properties such as a high mobility, a tunable density and, in topological insulators, a protection against backscattering through the spin–momentum locking mechanism. All those properties make graphene and topological insulators appealing for plasmonics applications. However, Dirac electrons are expected to present also a strong nonlinear optical behaviour. This should mirror in phenomena such as electromagnetic-induced transparency and harmonic generation. Here we demonstrate that in Bi2Se3 topological insulator, an electromagnetic-induced transparency is achieved under the application of a strong terahertz electric field. This effect, concomitantly determined by harmonic generation and charge-mobility reduction, is exclusively related to the presence of Dirac electron at the surface of Bi2Se3, and opens the road towards tunable terahertz nonlinear optical devices based on topological insulator materials.

Large-bandwidth two-color free-electron laser driven by a comb-like electron beam

We discuss a two-color SASE free-electron laser (FEL) amplifier where the time and energy separation of two separated radiation pulses are controlled by manipulation of the electron beam phase space. Two electron beamlets with adjustable time and energy spacing are generated in an RF photo-injector illuminating the cathode with a comb-like laser pulse followed by RF compression in the linear accelerator. We review the electron beam manipulation technique to generate bunches with time and energy properties suitable for driving two-color FEL radiation. Experimental measurements at the SPARC-LAB facility illustrate the flexibility of the scheme for the generation of two-color FEL spectra.

Experimental characterization of active plasma lensing for electron beams

The active plasma lens represents a compact and affordable tool with radially symmetric focusing and field gradients up to several kT/m. In order to be used as a focusing device, its effects on the particle beam distribution must be well characterized. Here, we present the experimental results obtained by focusing an high-brightness electron beam by means of a 3 cm-long discharge-capillary pre-filled with Hydrogen gas. We achieved minimum spot sizes of 24 μ m (rms) showing that, during plasma lensing, the beam emittance increases due to nonlinearities in the focusing field. The results have been cross-checked with numerical simulations, showing an excellent agreement.

Experimental characterization of the effects induced by passive plasma lens on high brightness electron bunches

We report on the experimental characterization of the effect that a passive plasma lens in the overdense regime has on high-brightness bunch quality by means of 6D phase-space analysis. The passive lens is generated by confining hydrogen gas with a capillary tube pre-ionized with a high-voltage discharge. We observed that the optimum condition is retrieved at the end of the overdense regime with almost no effect on bunch brightness. The presence of gas jets, leaking from the hollow capillary end-points, extends the lens effects also outside of the capillary, resulting in longer focusing channels. Experimental results are supported with numerical simulations of the complete accelerator line together with the plasma channel section.

Femtosecond timing-jitter between photo-cathode laser and ultra-short electron bunches by means of hybrid compression

The generation of ultra-short electron bunches with ultra-low timing-jitter relative to the photo-cathode (PC) laser has been experimentally proved for the first time at the SPARC_LAB test-facility (INFN-LNF, Frascati) exploiting a two-stage hybrid compression scheme. The first stage employs RF-based compression (velocity-bunching), which shortens the bunch and imprints an energy chirp on it. The second stage is performed in a non-isochronous dogleg line, where the compression is completed resulting in a final bunch duration below 90 fs (rms). At the same time, the beam arrival timing-jitter with respect to the PC laser has been measured to be lower than 20 fs (rms). The reported results have been validated with numerical simulations.

The Project Plasmonx for Plasma Acceleration Experiments and A Thomson X-Ray Source at SPARC

We present the status of the project PLASMONX, recently approved by INFN. This project, based on a collaboration between INFN and CNR-IPCF, aims at a long term upgrade of the SPARC system with the goal to develop at LNF an integrated facility for advanced beam-laser-plasma research in the field of advanced acceleration techniques and ultra-bright X-ray radiation sources and related applications. The project, in its first phase, foresees the development at LNF of a High Intensity Laser Laboratory (HILL) whose main component is a 100 TW-class Ti: Sa laser system synchronized to the SPARC photo-injector. Experiments of self-injection and acceleration of electrons into laser driven plasma waves will be conducted at HILL-LNF, early in this first project phase. Eventually an additional beam line will be built in the SPARC bunker in order to transport the SPARC electron beam at an interaction point, where a final focus system will allow to conduct experiments either of laser-beam co-propagation in plasma waves for high gradient acceleration, or experiments of laser-beam head-on collisions to develop a Thomson source of bright ultra-short X-ray radiation pulses, with X-ray energies tunable in the range 20 to 1000 keV and pulse duration from 30 fs to 20 ps. Preliminary simulations of plasma acceleration with self-injection are illustrated, as well as external injection of the SPARC electron beam.

Time-domain measurement of a self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron laser with an energy-chirped electron beam and undulator tapering

We report the first experimental implementation of a method based on simultaneous use of an energy chirp in the electron beam and a tapered undulator, for the generation of ultrashort pulses in a self-amplified spontaneous emission mode free-electron laser (SASE FEL). The experiment, performed at the SPARC FEL test facility, demonstrates the possibility of compensating the nominally detrimental effect of the chirp by a proper taper of the undulator gaps. An increase of more than 1 order of magnitude in the pulse energy is observed in comparison to the untapered case, accompanied by FEL spectra where the typical SASE spiking is suppressed.