William M. Fawley

Highly coherent and stable pulses from the FERMI seeded free-electron laser in the extreme ultraviolet

Researchers demonstrate the FERMI free-electron laser operating in the high-gain harmonic generation regime, allowing high stability, transverse and longitudinal coherence and polarization control.

The FERMI@Elettra free-electron-laser source for coherent X-ray physics: photon properties, beam transport system, and applications

FERMI@Elettra is comprised of two free electron lasers (FELs) that will generate short pulses (tau ~;; 25 to 200 fs) of highly coherent radiation in the XUV and soft X-ray region. The use of external laser seeding together with a harmonic upshift scheme to obtain short wavelengths will give FERMI@Elettra the capability to produce high quality, longitudinal coherent photon pulses. This capability together with the possibilities of temporal synchronization to external lasers and control of the output photon polarization will open new experimental opportunities not possible with currently available FELs. Here we report on the predicted radiation coherence properties and important configuration details of the photon beam transport system. We discuss the several experimental stations that will be available during initial operations in 2011, and we give a scientific perspective on possible experiments that can exploit the critical parameters of this new light source.

Two-colour pump–probe experiments with a twin-pulse-seed extreme ultraviolet free-electron laser

Exploring the dynamics of matter driven to extreme non-equilibrium states by an intense ultrashort X-ray pulse is becoming reality, thanks to the advent of free-electron laser technology that allows development of different schemes for probing the response at variable time delay with a second pulse. Here we report the generation of two-colour extreme ultraviolet pulses of controlled wavelengths, intensity and timing by seeding of high-gain harmonic generation free-electron laser with multiple independent laser pulses. The potential of this new scheme is demonstrated by the time evolution of a titanium-grating diffraction pattern, tuning the two coherent pulses to the titanium M-resonance and varying their intensities. This reveals that an intense pulse induces abrupt pattern changes on a time scale shorter than hydrodynamic expansion and ablation. This result exemplifies the essential capabilities of the jitter-free multiple-colour free-electron laser pulse sequences to study evolving states of matter with element sensitivity.

Research and development toward a 4.5−1.5 Å linac coherent light source (LCLS) at SLAC

Abstract In recent years significant studies have been initiated on the feasibility of utilizing a portion of the 3 km S-band accelerator at SLAC to drive a short wavelength (4.5−1.5 A) Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), a Free-Electron Laser (FEL) operating in the Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) regime. Electron beam requirements for single-pass saturation in a minimal time include: 1) a peak current in the 7 kA range, 2) a relative energy spread of e = λ 4π , where λ[m] is the output wavelength. Requirements on the insertion device include field error levels of 0.02% for keeping the electron bunch centered on and in phase with the amplified photons, and a focusing beta of 8 m/rad for inhibiting the dilution of its transverse density. Although much progress has been made in developing individual components and beam-processing techniques necessary for LCLS operation down to ∼20 A, a substantial amount of research and development is still required in a number of theoretical and experimental areas leading to the construction and operation of a 4.5−1.5 A LCLS. In this paper we report on a research and development program underway and in planning at SLAC for addressing critical questions in these areas. These include the construction and operation of a linac test stand for developing laser-driven photocathode rf guns with normalized emittances approaching 1 mm-mrad; development of advanced beam compression, stability, and emittance control techniques at multi-GeV energies; the construction and operation of a FEL Amplifier Test Experiment (FATE) for theoretical and experimental studies of SASE at IR wavelengths; an undulator development program to investigate superconducting, hybrid/permanent magnet (hybrid/PM), and pulsed-Cu technologies; theoretical and computational studies of high-gain FEL physics and LCLS component designs; development of X-ray optics and instrumentation for extracting, modulating, and delivering photons to experimental users; and the study and development of scientific experiments made possible by the source properties of the LCLS.

High-gain free electron lasers using induction linear accelerators

High-power free electron lasers (FELs) can be realized using induction linear accelerators as the source of the electron beam. These accelerators are currently capable of producing intense currents (102-104A) at moderately high energy (1-50 MeV). Experiments using a 500 A, 3.3 MeV beam have produced 80 MW of radiation at 34.6 GHz and are in good agreement with theoretical analysis. Future experiments include a high-gain, high-efficiency FEL operating at 10.6 μm using a 50 MeV beam.

New developments in WARP: Progress toward end-to-end simulation

Abstract The development of a high current, heavy-ion beam driver for inertial confinement fusion requires a detailed understanding of the behavior of the beam, including effects of the strong self-fields. The necessity of including the self-fields of the beam makes particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation techniques ideal, and for this reason, the multi-dimensional PIC/accelerator code WARP has been developed. WARP [1] has been used extensively to study the creation and propagation of ion beams both in experiments and for the understanding of basic beam physics. An overview of the structure of the code will be presented along with a discussion of features that make the code an effective tool in the understanding of space-charge dominated beam behavior. Much development has been done on WARP increasing its flexibility and generality. Major additions include a generalized field description, an efficient steady-state modeling technique, a transverse slice model with a bending algorithm, further improvement of the parallel processing version, and capabilities for linking to chamber transport codes. With these additions, the capability of modeling a large scale accelerator from end-to-end comes closer to reality.

Start-to-end simulation of self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron lasers from the gun through the undulator.

Abstract It is widely appreciated that the performance of self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron lasers (FELs) depends critically on the properties of the drive beam. In view of this, a multi-laboratory collaboration has explored methods and software tools for integrated simulation of the photoinjector, linear accelerator, bunch compressor, and FEL. Rather than create a single code to handle such a system, our goal has been a robust, generic solution wherein pre-existing simulation codes are used sequentially. We have standardized on the use of Argonne National Laboratorys Self-Describing Data Sets file protocol for transfer of data among codes. The simulation codes used are PARMELA, elegant , and GENESIS. We describe the software methodology and its advantages, then provide examples involving Argonnes Low-Energy Undulator Test Line and Stanford Linear Accelerator Centers Linac Coherent Light Source. We also indicate possible future direction of this work.

The FERMI free-electron lasers

FERMI is a seeded free-electron laser (FEL) facility located at the Elettra laboratory in Trieste, Italy, and is now in user operation with its first FEL line, FEL-1, covering the wavelength range between 100 and 20 nm. The second FEL line, FEL-2, a high-gain harmonic generation double-stage cascade covering the wavelength range 20-4 nm, has also completed commissioning and the first user call has been recently opened. An overview of the typical operating modes of the facility is presented.

Tapered undulators for SASE FELs

Abstract We discuss the use of tapered undulators to enhance the performance of free-electron lasers (FELs) based upon self-amplified spontaneous emission, where the radiation tends to have a relatively broad bandwidth and limited temporal coherence. Using the polychromatic FEL simulation code GINGER, we numerically demonstrate the effectiveness of tapered undulators for parameters corresponding to the Argonne low-energy undulator test line FEL and the proposed linac coherent light source.

A recirculating linac-based facility for ultrafast x-ray science

We present an updated design for a proposed source of ultra-fast synchrotron radiation pulses based on a recirculating superconducting linac, in particular the incorporation of EUV and soft x-ray production. The project has been named LUX - Linac-based Ultrafast X-ray facility. The source produces intense x-ray pulses with duration of 10-100 fs at a 10 kHz repetition rate, with synchronization of 10s fs, optimized for the study of ultra-fast dynamics. The photon range covers the EUV to hard x-ray spectrum by use of seeded harmonic generation in undulators, and a specialized technique for ultra-short-pulse photon production in the 1-10 keV range. High-brightness rf photocathodes produce electron bunches which are optimized either for coherent emission in free-electron lasers, or to provide a large x/y emittance ration and small vertical emittance which allows for manipulation to produce short-pulse hard x-rays. An injector linac accelerates the beam to 120 MeV, and is followed by four passes through a 600-720 MeV recirculating linac. We outline the major technical components of the proposed facility.