Abstract
X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) require a very high electron beam quality in terms of emittance and energy spread. Since 2004 high quality electrons produced by laser-wakefield accelerators have been demonstrated, but the electron quality up to now did not allow the operation of a compact x-ray FEL using these electrons. Maier et al. [Phys. Rev. X 2, 031019 (2012)] suggested a concept for a proof-of-principle experiment allowing FEL operation in the vacuum ultraviolet range based on an optimized undulator and bunch decompression using electron bunches from a laser-plasma accelerator as currently available. In this paper we discuss in more detail how a chicane can be used as a bunch stretcher instead of a bunch compressor to allow the operation of a laser-wakefield accelerator driven FEL using currently available electrons. A scaling characterizing the impact of bunch decompression on the gain length is derived and the feasibility of the concept is tested numerically in a demanding scenario.
Highlights
X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) are the latest generation of high brightness photon sources
We present an alternative approach to drive an FEL with laser-wakefield acceleration (LWFA) beams, which is suited for the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelength range and allows for the operation of an FEL demonstration experiment using bunches currently available from LWFA, i.e., the setup is optimized for large energy spreads and bunch lengths on the order of the cooperation length
In this paper we discuss in more detail how bunch decompression [8,18,19] can be used to reduce the gain length in high energy spread scenarios especially in combination with short electron bunches, to allow the operation of an x-ray FEL demonstration experiment with electrons close to that from recent LWFA experiments and a relative energy spread on the order of the Pierce parameter
Summary
X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) are the latest generation of high brightness photon sources. We present an alternative approach to drive an FEL with LWFA beams, which is suited for the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelength range and allows for the operation of an FEL demonstration experiment using bunches currently available from LWFA, i.e., the setup is optimized for large energy spreads and bunch lengths on the order of the cooperation length. In this paper we discuss in more detail how bunch decompression [8,18,19] can be used to reduce the gain length in high energy spread scenarios especially in combination with short electron bunches, to allow the operation of an x-ray FEL demonstration experiment with electrons close to that from recent LWFA experiments and a relative energy spread on the order of the Pierce parameter.
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