Design studies on compact four mirror laser resonator with mode-locked pulsed laser for 5 μm laser wire

Abstract

A compact prototype four-mirror optical cavity is being constructed at KEK-ATF to measure low-emittance electron beams in the damping ring. Four-mirror-resonators reduce the sensitivity to the misalignment of mirrors in comparison to two mirror-resonators. The aspect ratio is important when constructing a compact resonator with a very small beam waist of less than 5μm. The total cavity length of a four-mirror resonator is matched according to the pulse repetition of mode-locked laser oscillator. Minimum beam waist is obtained in the sagittal plane using an IR pulsed laser. The advantage of such types of compact four-mirror-resonators is the total scanning time for measurement of the beam profile is much shorter in comparison to a CW laser wire system. By using a pulsed green laser that has been converted to the second harmonics from an IR pulsed laser, a minimum beam waist that has half the beam waist when using an IR laser oscillator can be obtained. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the beam waist of less than 5μm (σ value) that is required for effective photon–electron collision. We report on the development and performance studies for such types of compact four-mirror laser wire systems.