Free Electron Laser User Facility Research Articles

Fabrication, conditioning and installation of the 1st high gradient S-band accelerating module for the energy upgrade of the FERMI free electron laser linac

FERMI is the seeded free electron laser (FEL) user facility at Elettra laboratory in Trieste, operating in the VUV to soft X-rays spectral range. In order to extend the FEL spectral range to shorter wavelengths, an increase in the linear accelerator (linac) energy from 1.5 GeV to 2.0 GeV is required. This result will be achieved by replacing the present old sections with the newly designed accelerating sections which can work at high gradient with lower transverse wakefields. After the successful testing of a short prototype, 354 mm in length, of a new high-gradient (HG) section that sustained an accelerating gradient of 40 MV/m with a breakdown rate (BDR) of 8×10−8 bpp, two 3.0 m HG structures with the same design were built and installed at the FERMI linac. We report here the recent experience on the conditioning and installation of the first high gradient sections and the operation of the spherical pulse compressor prototype, conditioned up to 100 MW output power with a power amplification factor of 3.5.

FLASH and the FLASH2020+ project—current status and upgrades for the free-electron laser in Hamburg at DESY

The free-electron laser in Hamburg, FLASH, is the first extreme ultra-violet and soft X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) user facility and has been continuously upgraded since its start in 2005. Further major works are currently underway within the FLASH2020+ project that pioneeringly implements full repetition rate external seeding at a superconducting accelerator facility. With fully tunable undulators providing variable polarization FEL pulses, we expect FLASH to turn into the ideal spectroscopy machine for ultrafast processes within the coming years.

Inhibition of microbunching instability in the Shanghai soft X-ray Free-Electron Laser User Facility

A microbunching instability (MBI) driven by beam collective effects can deteriorate electron beam quality in advanced x-ray free electron lasers. In this paper, we demonstrate a scheme to suppress microbunching instability by adjusting the compression ratio of two-stage bunch compressor in linear accelerator of the Shanghai soft X-ray Free-Electron Laser User Facility (SXFEL-UF). The calculation of the microbunching instability gain and the mechanism of MBI suppression scheme can be revealed by the theoretical model in this paper. Numerical simulations are presented to verify the analytical results. Furthermore, benefit by the high temporal resolution of transverse deflecting structure (TDS), beam experiments for direct analysis of MBI were carried out at SXFEL-UF. Theoretical calculations as well as simulation and consistent experimental results illustrate that the suppression of microbunching instability can be achieved by increasing the first stage compression ratio of the linac in the SXFEL-UF. The feasible theme provides a promising beam optimization method for future X-FEL facilities.

Design of a megawatt superradiant terahertz source for FELiChEM

FELiChEM is an infrared free electron laser user facility built at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). It consists of two free electron laser oscillators which produce mid-infrared and far-infrared lasers covering the spectral range of 2–200 μm at current stage. In this paper, we propose a new operation mode of a megawatt (MW) terahertz (THz) superradiance free electron laser (FEL) for FELiChEM. Start-to-end (S2E) simulations have been carried out, in which the three-dimension particle-in-cell (PIC) code PUFFIN is used for the generation of the THz superradiance. Simulation results demonstrate that this superradiant FEL can provide 100–1000 μm laser with MW-class peak power from a 1.2 meter single-pass undulator when the electron energy is around 15 MeV.

The INFN-LNF present and future accelerator-based light facilities.

The INFN-Frascati National Laboratory (LNF) is nowadays running a 0.51 GeV electron-positron collider, DA NE, that also represents the synchrotron radiation source of the beamlines of the DA NE-Light facility. Not being DA NE dedicated to synchrotron radiations activities, the DA NE-Light facility can use it mainly in parasitic mode. Particle accelerators and high energy physics (HEP) have been and are the main core of the LNF research activity, but like other HEP international laboratories also LNF is now moving in the direction of developing a dedicated free electron laser (FEL) user facility, EuPRAXIA@SPARC_Lab, based on plasma acceleration. This new facility in the framework of the EuPRAXIA (European Plasma Research Accelerator with eXcellence in Applications) EU project should produce FEL radiation beams for a wide range of applications using a smaller accelerator compared to actual radio frequency-based accelerator sources dimensions.

Sensitivity of EEHG simulations to dynamic beam parameters

Currently, the Free electron laser user facility FLASH at DESY is undergoing a significant upgrade involving the complete transformation of one of its beamlines to allow external seeding. With the Echo-Enabled Harmonic Generation (EEHG) seeding method, we aim for the generation of fully coherent XUV and soft X-ray pulses at wavelengths down to 4 nm. The generated FEL radiation is sensitive to various electron beam properties, e.g., its energy profile imprinted either deliberately or by collective effects such as Coherent Synchrotron Radiation (CSR). In dedicated particle tracking simulations, one usually makes certain assumptions concerning the beam properties and the collective effects to simplify implementation and analysis. Here, we estimate the influence of some of the common assumptions made in EEHG simulations on the properties of the output FEL radiation, using the example of FLASH and its proposed seeding beamline. We conclude that the inherent properties of the FLASH1 beam, namely the negatively chirped energy profile, has dominant effect on the spectral intensity profile of the radiators output compare to that of the CSR induced chirp.

Simulation studies of superconducting afterburner operation for the European XFEL

European XFEL is a multi-beamline x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) user facility driven by a superconducting accelerator with a nominal photon energy range from 250 eV to 25 keV. An afterburner undulator based on superconducting undulator technology is currently being investigated to enable extension of the photon energy range towards harder x-rays. This afterburner undulator would be installed downstream of the already operating SASE2 FEL beamline, emitting at the fundamental or at a harmonic of the upstream undulator system. In this contribution we describe the layout under study and present numerical simulations.

Optimization of the cavity beam-position monitor system for the Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser user facility

Optimization of the cavity beam-position monitor system for the Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser user facility

First commissioning results of the coherent scattering and imaging endstation at the Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser facility

The Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser (SXFEL) user facility project started in 2016 and is expected to be open to users by 2022. It aims to deliver ultra-intense coherent femtosecond X-ray pulses to five endstations covering a range of 100–620 eV for ultrafast X-ray science. Two undulator lines are designed and constructed, based on different lasing modes: self-amplified spontaneous emission and echo-enabled harmonic generation. The coherent scattering and imaging (CSI) endstation is the first of five endstations to be commissioned online. It focuses on high-resolution single-shot imaging and the study of ultrafast dynamic processes using coherent forward scattering techniques. Both the single-shot holograms and coherent diffraction patterns were recorded and reconstructed for nanoscale imaging, indicating the excellent coherence and high peak power of the SXFEL and the possibility of “diffraction before destruction” experiments at the CSI endstation. In this study, we report the first commissioning results of the CSI endstation.

Observation of harmonic lasing in the Angstrom regime at European X-ray Free Electron Laser

Harmonic lasing provides an opportunity to extend the photon energy range of existing and planned x-ray free electron laser (FEL) user facilities. Contrary to nonlinear harmonic generation, harmonic lasing can generate a much more intense, stable, and narrow-band FEL beam. Another interesting application is harmonic lasing self-seeding that allows to improve the longitudinal coherence and spectral power of a self-amplified spontaneous emission FEL. This concept was tested at the soft x-ray FEL user facility FLASH in the range of 4.5--15 nm and at Pohang accelerator laboratory X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) at 1 nm. In this paper we present recent results from the European XFEL where we successfully demonstrated harmonic lasing at 5.9 Angstrom and 2.8 Angstrom. In the latter case we obtained both third and fifth harmonic lasing and, for the first time, operated a harmonic lasing cascade (fifth-third-first harmonics of the undulator). These results pave the way for reaching very high photon energies, up to 100 keV.

Single-shot transverse coherence measurements with Young's double pinholes at FLASH2

We measured the transverse coherence at FLASH2, a variable gap undulator line at the FLASH free-electron laser user facility at DESY in Hamburg. We demonstrate, theoretically and experimentally, a revised version of Young’s double pinhole approach to perform single-shot, repeatable and non-invasive transverse coherence measurements. At beamline FL24 of FLASH2, the transverse coherence of pulses was systematically characterized at wavelengths of 8, 13.5 and 18 nm for different FEL source settings. We determine degrees of coherence of 57% to 87% in the vertical and horizontal direction, respectively. These measurements can facilitate the planning of novel, coherence-based experiments at the FLASH facility.

Status of the Superconducting Soft X-Ray Free-Electron Laser User Facility Flash at DESY

Status of the Superconducting Soft X-Ray Free-Electron Laser User Facility Flash at DESY

Generation of large-bandwidth x-ray free electron laser with evolutionary many-objective optimization algorithm

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) are cutting-edge scientific instruments for a wide range of disciplines. Conventionally, the narrow bandwidth is pursued in an XFEL. However, in recent years, the large-bandwidth XFEL operation schemes are proposed for X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography, in which over-compression is a promising scheme to produce broad-bandwidth XFEL pulses through increasing the electron beam energy chirp. In this paper, combining with the beam yaw correction to overcome the transverse slice misalignment caused by the coherent synchrotron radiation, finding out the over-compression working point of the linac is treated as a many-objective (having four or more objectives) optimization problem, thus the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm III is applied to the beam dynamic optimization for the first time. Start-to-end simulations demonstrate a full bandwidth of 4.6% for Shanghai soft x-ray free-electron laser user facility.

X-band EPR setup with THz light excitation of Novosibirsk Free Electron Laser: Goals, means, useful extras

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) station at the Novosibirsk Free Electron Laser (NovoFEL) user facility is described. It is based on X-band (∼9 GHz) EPR spectrometer and operates in both Continuous Wave (CW) and Time-Resolved (TR) modes, each allowing detection of either direct or indirect influence of high-power NovoFEL light (THz and mid-IR) on the spin system under study. The optics components including two parabolic mirrors, shutters, optical chopper and multimodal waveguide allow the light of NovoFEL to be directly fed into the EPR resonator. Characteristics of the NovoFEL radiation, the transmission and polarization-retaining properties of the waveguide used in EPR experiments are presented. The types of proposed experiments accessible using this setup are sketched. In most practical cases the high-power radiation applied to the sample induces its rapid temperature increase (T-jump), which is best visible in TR mode. Although such influence is a by-product of THz radiation, this thermal effect is controllable and can deliberately be used to induce and measure transient signals of arbitrary samples. The advantage of tunable THz radiation is the absence of photo-induced processes in the sample and its high penetration ability, allowing fast heating of a large portion of virtually any sample and inducing intense transients. Such T-jump TR EPR spectroscopy with THz pulses has been previewed for the two test samples, being a useful supplement for the main goals of the created setup.

Direct measurement of the pulse duration and frequency chirp of seeded XUV free electron laser pulses

We report on a direct time-domain measurement of the temporal properties of a seeded free-electron laser pulse in the extreme ultraviolet spectral range. Utilizing the oscillating electromagnetic field of terahertz radiation, a single-shot THz streak-camera was applied for measuring the duration as well as spectral phase of the generated intense XUV pulses. The experiment was conducted at FLASH, the free electron laser user facility at DESY in Hamburg, Germany. In contrast to indirect methods, this approach directly resolves and visualizes the frequency chirp of a seeded free-electron laser (FEL) pulse. The reported diagnostic capability is a prerequisite to tailor amplitude, phase and frequency distributions of FEL beams on demand. In particular, it opens up a new window of opportunities for advanced coherent spectroscopic studies making use of the high degree of temporal coherence expected from a seeded FEL pulse.

Design of a nondestructive two-in-one instrument for measuring the polarization and energy spectrum at an X-ray FEL facility

The free electron laser (FEL), as a next-generation light source, is an attractive tool in scientific frontier research because of its advantages of full coherence, ultra-short pulse duration, and controllable polarization. Owing to the demand of real-time bunch diagnosis during FEL experiments, precise nondestructive measurements of the polarization and X-ray energy spectrum using one instrument are preferred. In this paper, such an instrument based on the electron time-of-flight technique is proposed. By considering the complexity and nonlinearity, a numerical model in the framework of Geant4 has been developed for optimization. Taking the Shanghai Soft X-ray FEL user facility as an example, its measurement performances' dependence on the critical parameters was studied systematically, and, finally, an optimal design was obtained, achieving resolutions of 0.5% for the polarization degree and 0.3 eV for the X-ray energy spectrum.

Parameter optimization and start-to-end simulation for the phase-merging enhanced harmonic generation free electron laser

Recently, a novel scheme called the phase-merging enhanced harmonic generation (PEHG) free-electron laser (FEL) has been developed to achieve higher harmonic bunching in a single stage set up. However, previous studies of the PEHG mechanism ignored the practical lattice configuration, leaving out the impact of the intrinsic beam divergence on the phase-merging effect. In this paper, a new method based on the beam transport matrix is proposed to comprehensively study the optimization conditions of the harmonic generation FELs. On the basis of this method, the new optimization conditions of the PEHG are obtained by taking into account both the intrinsic horizontal beam size and the intrinsic horizontal beam divergence. The parameter optimization and three dimensional start-to-end simulations are carried out using the typical beam parameters of the Shanghai Soft X-ray Free Electron Laser user facility. The simulation results are in agreement with the theoretical analysis and demonstrate the validity of the PEHG-FEL.

Photon Beam Transport and Scientific Instruments at the European XFEL

European XFEL is a free-electron laser (FEL) user facility providing soft and hard X-ray FEL radiation to initially six scientific instruments. Starting user operation in fall 2017 European XFEL will provide new research opportunities to users from science domains as diverse as physics, chemistry, geo- and planetary sciences, materials sciences or biology. The unique feature of European XFEL is the provision of high average brilliance in the soft and hard X-ray regime, combined with the pulse properties of FEL radiation of extreme peak intensities, femtosecond pulse duration and high degree of coherence. The high average brilliance is achieved through acceleration of up to 27,000 electron bunches per second by the super-conducting electron accelerator. Enabling the usage of this high average brilliance in user experiments is one of the major instrumentation drivers for European XFEL. The radiation generated by three FEL sources is distributed via long beam transport systems to the experiment hall where the scientific instruments are located side-by-side. The X-ray beam transport systems have been optimized to maintain the unique features of the FEL radiation which will be monitored using build-in photon diagnostics. The six scientific instruments are optimized for specific applications using soft or hard X-ray techniques and include integrated lasers, dedicated sample environment, large area high frame rate detector(s) and computing systems capable of processing large quantities of data.

Wakefields studies for the SXFEL user facility

Besides the original seeded undulator line, in the soft X-ray free-electron laser (SXFEL) user facility in Shanghai, a second undulator line based on self-amplified spontaneous emission is proposed to achieve 2-nm laser pulse with extremely high brightness. In this paper, the beam energy deviation induced by the undulator wakefields is numerically calculated, and 3D and 2D results agree well with each other. The beam energy loss along the undulator degrades the expected FEL output performances, i.e., the pulse energy, radiation power and spectrum, which can be compensated with a proper taper in the undulator. Using the planned time-resolved diagnostic, a novel experiment is proposed to measure the SXFEL longitudinal wakefields.

Design of FELiChEM, the first infrared free-electron laser user facility in China**Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (21327901)

FELiChEM is a new experimental facility under construction at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Its core device is two free electron laser oscillators generating middle-infrared and far-infrared laser and covering the spectral range of 2.5–200 μm. It will be a dedicated infrared light source aiming at energy chemistry research. We present the brief design of the FEL oscillators, with the emphasis put on the middle-infrared oscillator. Most of the basic parameters are determined and the anticipated performance of the output radiation is given. The first light of FELiChEM is targeted for the end of 2017.