Virtual commissioning of the European XFEL for advanced user experiments at photon energies beyond 25 keV using low-emittance electron beams

Abstract

Growing interests in ultra-hard X-rays are pushing forward the frontier of commissioning the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL) for routine operation towards the sub-ångström regime, where a photon energy of 25 keV (0.5 Å) and above is desired. Such X-rays allow for larger penetration depths and enable the investigation of materials in highly absorbing environments. Delivering the requested X-rays to user experiments is of crucial importance for the XFEL development. Unique capabilities of the European XFEL are formed by combining a high energy linac and the long variable-gap undulator systems for generating intense X-rays at 25 keV and pushing the limit even further to 30 keV. However, the FEL performance relies on achievable electron bunch qualities. Low-emittance electron bunch production, and the associated start-to-end modelling of beam physics thus becomes a prerequisite to dig into the XFEL potentials. Here, we present the obtained simulation results from a virtual commissioning of the XFEL for the user experiments at 25 keV and beyond, including the optimized electron bunch qualities and corresponding FEL lasing performance. Experimental results at 30 keV from the first test run are presented.