M.W. Poole

European project to develop a UV/VUV free-electron laser facility on the ELETTRA storage ring☆

Abstract The main features and novel technical aspects of a new European project to integrate a free-electron laser on an existing “third generation” synchrotron radiation user facility are described, including the design of the optical cavity and undulator, the electron beam characteristics and a first assessment of the predicted laser performance.

The UK FEL project: Status and measurement of optical gain☆

Abstract The aim of the UK FEL project is to study the characteristics of a single-pass FEL over a wide operating range, using a four-section 5 m wiggler yielding a maximum K value of 2.7. The laser is driven by the 165 MeV Kelvin Laboratory linac. It has a design operating wavelength range of 2–20 μm, although higher harmonics are also under investigation. We report direct measurement of optical gain using a cw CO 2 laser between 9 and 11 μm. Simultaneous spectra are obtained of both gain and spontaneous emission as a function of linac energy or wiggler field as the tuning parameter. The linewidth obtained is close to that expected for homogeneous broadening, and the gain is consistent with that predicted theoretically for the current available. Strong enhancement of both spontaneous emission and measured gain is obtained in the presence of a high- Q FEL cavity, as expected by simple considerations of optical confinement. These results imply that despite the shortness of our macropulse (∼ 2.5 μm), it will be possible to diagnose buildup to oscillation from an injected signal.

Operation and performance of a free electron laser oscillator down to 190 nm

We present recent results obtained by the European Free Electron Laser (FEL) project at the ELETTRA storage ring. Coherent and tunable light was produced in the ultraviolet down to below 190 nm, the shortest lasing wavelength obtained so far with a FEL oscillator. The performance of the FEL is described, together with a series of technical solutions that have been adopted on it. These solutions increase its validity as a source for applications, and demonstrate the potential of FEL oscillators to become sources with features in the vacuum ultraviolet.

Prospects for a 4th Generation Light Source for the UK

A 4th Generation Light Source (4GLS) forms a major part of the new CASIM (Centre for Accelerator Science, Imaging and Medicine) project that has been proposed to be based at Daresbury Laboratory. Such a light source is envisaged to contain 3 free electron lasers (FELs) that are integrated with a highly optimised low energy synchrotron radiation source. The light source will be optimised to cover the photon energy range of 5 to 100 eV as well as being designed to host a cavity based FEL that would operate in the UV region. A second, linac based, infrared FEL would be placed in the same building thus enabling pump-probe experiments to be carried out with,state, of the art photon flux and brightness. The third FEL would not initially be a user facility but would be a linac based SASE FEL research project with the aim of producing ultra high brightness light in the VUV/SXR region. The primary source of 5 to 100 eV light could either be a storage ring or an energy recovery linac. Both options are presently being studied and a choice will be made by the Autumn of 2001. This paper describes the present concept for the 4GLS project and details the current status of the designs.

4GLS: a new type of fourth generation light source facility

Consideration is now being given in the UK to the provision of an advanced facility at lower energy to complement the DIAMOND x-ray light source. The proposed solution, 4GLS, is a superconducting energy recovery linac (ERL) with an output energy around 600 MeV, delivering both CW beam currents up to 100 mA and alternatively high charge bunches for FEL applications. Production and manipulation of short electron bunches (fs) is a vital part of the source specification. In addition to beam lines from undulator sources in the ERL recovery path there will be three FELs: two will be oscillator types in the infrared and VUV respectively, and the third will be a high gain system for XUV output. The project is outlined, together with its status and the R&D challenges posed. A funded prototype based on a 50 MeV ERL is also described.

A Low-Energy-Spread Rf Accelerator for a Far-Infrared Free-Electron Laser

A high electron current and a small energy spread are essential for the operation of a free electron laser (FEL). In this paper we discuss the design and performance of the accelerator for FELIX, the free electron laser for infrared experiments. The system consists of a thermionic gun, a prebuncher, a buncher and two standard commercial linac sections. The gun is operated with a pulse duration of 280 ps and a bunch charge of 200 pC. After compression to 35 ps by the prebuncher, the bunches are accelerated to 4 MeV in the buncher and simultaneously compressed to 6 ps. The principle of the method is that the order of the electrons is conserved in the buncher, so that the resulting more or less linear energy-phase relationship along each bunch can be compensated effectively against space charge forces and the accelerating field gradient in the linacs, via an appropriate choice of the phase of the rf wave. Behind the linacs an rms energy spread of 0.30% has been measured.

Status of the UK FEL project

Abstract A collaboration of several universities and scientific centres is studying the characteristics of a single pass FEL over a wide operating range. Optimum gain performance has been selected in a highly broadened regime for the range 2–20 μm, but higher harmonics will also be measured. The facility has been constructed using the 165 MeV Kelvin linac, modified to improve its properties as an FEL source. A new beam transport system matches electrons through the 65 mm period undulator and also incorporates an electron spectrometer system of high accuracy. The 5 m magnet has four independent, identical sections for experimental flexibility and is remotely controllable to high field strength. Following studies of the electron beam properties, including emittance and alignment, spontaneous spectra have been recorded and gain measurements are now being attempted.

SRS Behaviour with a Superconducting 5-Tesla Wiggler Insertion

A 5 Tesla superconducting wavelength shifting wiggler magnet has been inserted into the SRS lattice. Observations have been made of the behaviour of the stored electron beam with the magnet powered. Betatron tune shifts and modulation of the betatron function have been measured and good agreement obtained with theory. Closed orbit changes have been examined and the stored beam lifetime optimised. The magnet is fully operational and is producing intense x-ray beams for users.

PAMELA - a model for an FFAG based hadron therapy machine

Approximately one third of the worlds 15000 accelerators are used for tumour therapy and other medical applications [1]. The characteristics of FFAGs make them ideally suited to such applications, as the much smaller magnet size and greater compactness offers considerable cost and operational benefits. In the first stage the work on PAMELA will focus on the optimization of the FFAG design to deliver the specific machine parameters demanded by therapy applications. In this phase of the PAMELA project the effort will concentrate on the design of a semi-scaling type FFAGs to deliver a 450 MeV/u carbon ion beam, including detailed lattice and tracking studies. The second stage will use the existing expertise in the BASROC consortium [2] to undertake a design of the magnets and RF system for PAMELA. An outline of the overall concept of PAMELA will be discussed and the actual status of the work will be presented.

FEL options for the proposed UK fourth generation light source (4GLS)

4GLS is a novel low-energy light source proposed as a complementary facility to the DIAMOND X-ray project for the UK, and could probably replace the present SRS at Daresbury in about 6 years time. This facility will use a combination of three separate FELs, undulators and bending magnets to provide a unique source of high-brightness continuous and pulsed radiation from the IR to XUV (~100 eV). Here, we give a brief description of the proposed FELs in the IR and VUV followed by a pre-design parameter study of the more technically challenging XUV high-gain FEL. The electron beam source for this FEL is a 600MeV superconducting energy recovery linac with peak currents of a few kA, normalised rms emittance ~3 pi mm-mrad and rms energy spread ∼5×10-4. Computer simulations using the 3-D FEL code GENESIS 1.3 are used to investigate a feasible undulator and beam focussing scheme, allowing estimates for achievable radiation power and saturation length to be made.