Harmonic Generation Scheme Research Articles

Status of the SXFEL Facility

The Shanghai soft X-ray Free-Electron Laser facility (SXFEL) is being developed in two steps; the SXFEL test facility (SXFEL-TF), and the SXFEL user facility (SXFEL-UF). The SXFEL-TF is a critical development step towards the construction a soft X-ray FEL user facility in China, and is under commissioning at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) campus. The test facility is going to generate 8.8 nm FEL radiation using an 840 MeV electron linac passing through the two-stage cascaded HGHG-HGHG or EEHG-HGHG (high-gain harmonic generation, echo-enabled harmonic generation) scheme. The construction of the SXFEL-TF started at the end of 2014. Its accelerator tunnel and klystron gallery were ready for equipment installation in April 2016, and the installation of the SXFEL-TF linac and radiator undulators were completed by the end of 2016. In the meantime, the SXFEL-UF, with a designated wavelength in the water window region, began construction in November 2016. This was based on upgrading the linac energy to 1.5 GeV, and the building of a second undulator line and five experimental end-stations. Construction status and the future plans of the SXFEL are reported in this paper.

Design study of an echo-enabled harmonic generation free electron laser for the 24th harmonics

In this paper, we present an echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) scheme to generate a free electron laser (FEL). The EEHG FEL utilizes two modulators and two chicanes that can generate a high harmonic density modulation with a low initial beam energy modulation. Using the beam parameters of a 150-MeV electron accelerator, we show that the EEHG scheme enhances FEL performance and generates coherent radiation with a wavelength of 100 nm. In this scheme, the 150-MeV electron beam is energy-modulated by using two lasers with wavelengths of 800 and 2400 nm. The modulated electron beam is sent to two chicanes whose dispersive strengths are 8.2 and 1.0 mm to convert energy modulation to density modulation. Finally, the density-modulated electron beam is sent to a radiator that is tuned to a wavelength of 100 nm and generates radiation with a peak power of 0.3 GW. We performed simulations of the laser-beam interaction by using the GENESIS code and showed that intense coherent radiation with a wavelength of 100 nm could be achieved from the two seeding lasers under the designed EEHG scheme.

A single stage EEHG at SXFEL for narrow-bandwidth soft X-ray generation

The echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) scheme holds promising prospects for efficiently generating intense coherent radiation at very high harmonics of the initial seed laser. In this paper, we study the feasibility of operating the Shanghai X-ray free-electron laser test facility with a single stage EEHG setup. With a combination of existing numerical codes, start-to-end simulations considering various three-dimensional effects have been carried out to show the possible performance of the EEHG FEL. Simulation results demonstrate that a single stage EEHG can generate high power soft X-ray radiation pulses with narrow bandwidth directly from UV seed lasers. With the help of the harmonic lasing technique or upgraded linac, we also show the possibility of generating coherent soft X-ray radiation in the “water window” with a single stage EEHG.

Feasibility study of generating ultra-high harmonic radiation with a single stage echo-enabled harmonic generation scheme

The echo enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) scheme holds the ability for the generation of fully coherent soft x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) pulses directly from external UV seeding sources. In this paper, we study the feasibility of using a single stage EEHG to generate coherent radiation in the “water window” and beyond. Using the high-order operating modes of the EEHG scheme, intensive numerical simulations have been performed considering various three-dimensional effects. The simulation results demonstrated that coherent soft x-ray radiation at 150th harmonic (1.77nm) of the seed can be produced by a single stage EEHG. The decreasing of the final bunching factor at the desired harmonic caused by intra beam scattering (IBS) effect has also been analyzed.

Second Harmonic Generation of Self‐Focused Cosh‐Gaussian Laser Beam in Thermal Quantum Plasma by Excitation of an Electron Plasma Wave

AbstractThis paper presents a scheme for second harmonic generation (SHG) of an intense Cosh‐Gaussian (ChG) laser beam in thermal quantum plasmas. Moment theory approach in W.K.B approximation has been adopted in deriving the differential equation governing the propagation characteristics of the laser beam with distance of propagation. The effect of relativistic increase in electron mass on propagation dynamics of laser beam has been incorporated. Due to relativistic nonlinearity in the dielectric properties of the plasma, the laser beam gets self‐focused and produces density gradients in the transverse direction. The generated density gradients excite electron plasma wave (EPW) at pump frequency that interacts with the incident laser beam to produce its second harmonics. Numerical simulations have been carried out to investigate the effects of laser parameters on selffocusing of the laser beam and hence on the conversion efficiency of its second harmonics. Simulation results predict that within a specific range of decentered parameter the ChG laser beams show smaller divergence as they propagate and, thus, lead to enhanced conversion efficiency of second harmonics. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Second harmonic generation of q-Gaussian laser beam in preformed collisional plasma channel with nonlinear absorption

This paper presents a scheme for second harmonic generation of an intense q-Gaussian laser beam in a preformed parabolic plasma channel, where collisional nonlinearity is operative with nonlinear absorption. Due to nonuniform irradiance of intensity along the wavefront of the laser beam, nonuniform Ohmic heating of plasma electrons takes place. Due to this nonuniform heating of plasma, the laser beam gets self-focused and produces strong density gradients in the transverse direction. The generated density gradients excite an electron plasma wave at pump frequency that interacts with the pump beam to produce its second harmonics. The formulation is based on a numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrodinger wave equation in WKB approximation followed by moment theory approach. A second order nonlinear differential equation governing the propagation dynamics of the laser beam with distance of propagation has been obtained and is solved numerically by Runge Kutta fourth order technique. The effect of nonlinear absorption on self-focusing of the laser beam and conversion efficiency of its second harmonics has been investigated.

Beam energy distribution influences on density modulation efficiency in seeded free-electron lasers

The beam energy spread at the entrance of an undulator system is of paramount importance for efficient density modulation in high-gain seeded free-electron lasers (FELs). In this paper, the dependences of high harmonic bunching efficiency in high-gain harmonic generation (HGHG), echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) and phase-merging enhanced harmonic generation (PEHG) schemes on the electron beam energy spread distribution are studied. Theoretical investigations and multidimensional numerical simulations are applied to the cases of uniform and saddle beam energy distributions and compared to a traditional Gaussian distribution. It shows that the uniform and saddle electron energy distributions significantly enhance the bunching performance of HGHG FELs, while they almost have no influence on EEHG and PEHG schemes. A further start-to-end simulation example demonstrated that, with the saddle distribution of sliced beam energy spread controlled by a laser heater, the 30th harmonic can be directly generated by a single-stage HGHG scheme for a soft x-ray FEL facility.

Noncollinear optical gating

We present a novel scheme for high-order harmonic generation, enabling the production of spatially separated isolated attosecond pulses. This can be achieved by driving the generation process with two identical, but temporally delayed laser pulses, which are noncollinearly overlapping in the generation medium. Our approach provides intense attosecond pulses directly separated from the fundamental field, which is left undistorted. The method is therefore ideally suited for pump-probe studies in the extreme ultraviolet regime and promises new advances for intra-cavity attosecond pulse generation. We present a theoretical description of noncollinear optical gating, with an analytical derivation and simulations using the strong field approximation.

Phase-merging enhanced harmonic generation free-electron laser

Together with one of its variants, the recently proposed phase-merging enhanced harmonic generation (PEHG) free-electron laser (FEL) is systematically studied in this paper. Different from a standard high-gain harmonic generation scheme, a transverse gradient undulator is employed to introduce a phase-merging effect into the transversely dispersed electron beam in PEHG. The analytical theory of the phase-merging effect and the physical mechanism behind the phenomenon are presented. Using a representative set of beam parameters, intensive start-to-end simulations for soft x-ray FEL generation are given to illustrate the performance of PEHG. Moreover, some practical issues that may affect the performance of PEHG are also discussed.

Beam energy chirp effects in seeded free-electron lasers

Seeded free-electron lasers (FELs) hold great promise for generating high brilliance radiation pulses with a narrow bandwidth, which typically requires an electron bunch with relatively uniform energy distribution. However, it has been pointed out that the beam energy curvature generated in the acceleration process may degrade the output radiation pulse quality of seeded FELs. In this paper, we studied the beam energy chirp effects in various seeded FEL configurations. The theoretical and simulation results show that the performance degradation of high gain harmonic generation scheme is proportional to the beam energy chirp, while the advanced seeding schemes, e.g. echo-enabled harmonic generation and phase merging enhanced harmonic generation, are capable of eliminating the effect of the electron beam energy chirp.

391 μJ picosecond ultraviolet pulses at 355 nm with 1 MHz repeat rate

Based on our reliable high-power picosecond laser source with high beam qualities, we designed a compact and efficient third harmonic generation scheme by cascading a frequency doubling and a sum frequency generation using LBO as the nonlinear material. A maximum output of 39.1 W with a repeat rate of 1 MHz at 355 nm was obtained, which implied a pulse energy of 39.1 μJ, which was the highest picosecond UV pulse energy with an all-solid-state setup so far. The total conversion efficiency from infrared to UV was up to 46%. And the output UV has excellent beam qualities with an M-square factor less than 1.1.

Slippage effect on energy modulation in seeded free-electron lasers with frequency chirped seed laser pulses

Free-electron lasers (FELs) seeded with external lasers hold great promise for generating high power radiation with nearly transform-limited bandwidth in the soft x-ray region. However, it has been pointed out that the initial seed laser phase error will be amplified by the frequency up-conversion process, which may degrade the quality of the output radiation produced by a harmonic generation scheme. In this paper, theoretical and simulation studies on frequency chirp amplification in seeded FEL schemes with slippage effect taken into account are presented. It is found that the seed laser imperfection experienced by the electron beam can be significantly smoothed by the slippage effect in the modulator when the slippage length is comparable to the seed laser pulse length. This smoothing effect allows one to preserve the excellent temporal coherence of seeded FELs in the presence of large frequency chirp in the seed laser. Our studies show that the tolerance on frequency chirp in the seed laser for generating nearly transform-limited soft x-ray pulses in seeded FELs is much looser than previously thought and fully coherent radiation at nanometer wavelength may be reached with current technologies.

Optimization of a high brightness photoinjector for a seeded FEL facility

The FERMI@Elettra project is a seeded free electron laser (FEL) source, based on the High Gain Harmonic Generation (HGHG) scheme. It is designed to supply photons in a spectral range from 65 to 20 nm with the first undulator line (FEL-1) and from 20 nm to 4 nm with the second undulator line (FEL-2).After a first period of commissioning of the electron beam up to 100 MeV at low charge, started in August 2009, several phases of installations and beam commissioning periods have been alternated through the 2010. On December 2010 the first FEL light in the FEL-1 line was obtained at 65 nm and 43 nm by adopting as an initial seed the third harmonic of a TiSa laser. The complete optimization and commissioning of the photo-injector has been carried on in parallel with the Linac and FEL commissioning, from a conservative set-up to the final designed configuration. This paper reports the electron beam characterization in the injector area, the comparison with the theoretical expectations and the experimental process which resulted in a high brightness electron beam. This beam was optimized to be compressed and then transported through the undulators of FEL-1 where intense photons ranging from 65 nm to 20 nm were generated [1,2].

Attosecond Hard X-ray Free Electron Laser

In this paper, several schemes of soft X-ray and hard X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL) and their progress are reviewed. Self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) schemes, the high gain harmonic generation (HGHG) scheme and various enhancement schemes through seeding and beam manipulations are discussed, especially in view of the generation of attosecond X-ray pulses. Our recent work on the generation of attosecond hard X-ray pulses is also discussed. In our study, the enhanced SASE scheme is utilized, using electron beam parameters of an XFEL under construction at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL). Laser, chicane and electron beam parameters are optimized to generate an isolated attosecond hard X-ray pulse at 0.1 nm (12.4 keV). The simulations show that the manipulation of electron energy beam profile may lead to the generation of an isolated attosecond hard X-ray of 150 attosecond pulse at 0.1 nm.

Enhanced high gain harmonic generation scheme with negative dispersion

The enhanced high gain harmonic generation (EHGHG) scheme has been proposed and shown to be able to significantly enhance the performance of HGHG FEL. In this paper we investigate the EHGHG scheme with negative dispersion. The bunching factor at the entrance of the radiator is analyzed, which indicates that the scheme with negative dispersion can further weaken the negative effect of the dispersive strength on the energy spread correction factor. The numerical results from GENESIS (3D-code) are presented, and are in good agreement with our analysis. Then we comparatively study the effects of the initial beam energy spread and the relative phase shift on the radiation power. The results show that the EHGHG scheme with negative dispersion has a larger tolerance on the initial beam energy spread and a nearly equal wide good region of the relative phase shift compared with the case of positive dispersion.

Double pulse quasi-collinear high harmonic generation scheme as a tool for X-ray laser plasma gain probing

We have investigated high harmonic generation in an argon gas cell driven by two femtosecond laser pulses separated by a variable delay ranging from 500 fs to 100 ps. Experiments were performed at the LASERIX IR-EUV facility using an amplified 10 Hz CPA Ti:Sapphire laser system on a beamline delivering 50 fs pulses at 800 nm with energy up to 25 mJ. In the case of a non-zero time delay we studied the optimal conditions for equilibrated double pulse generation despite perturbation of the generating medium induced by the first pulse. We showed how high harmonic double pulse generation varies with the gas pressure, the excitation energy, the delay and the relative polarization between the two laser pulses.

Cherenkov high-order harmonic generation by multistep cascading in χ(2) nonlinear photonic crystal

We propose a scheme for efficient Cherenkov high-order harmonic generation. Second to fifth order harmonic wave are observed in a single periodically poled ferroelectric crystal in our experiment. The noncollinear high-order harmonic generation is produced via enhanced Cherenkov second harmonic cascaded with successive multistep sum-frequency generation with simultaneously longitudinal phase-matching. The emission angle and power dependencies are analyzed in detail experimentally, which coincide with theoretical predictions.

An intracavity frequency doubled H_2 Raman laser scheme for generating narrow-linewidth yellow radiation

We propose a cavity-based combined Raman and second harmonic generation scheme for generating hundreds of milliwatts of continuous-wave yellow radiation with a frequency linewidth suitable for spectroscopic applications. We suggest using H2 gas as the Raman medium in an external Raman ring resonator with an intracavity frequency doubling crystal. Using gas rather than a crystal allows for single-mode, narrow-linewidth operation suitable for many spectroscopic applications. In a specific numerical example, we predict the generation of more than 200 mW of narrow-linewidth 583 nm light from an input of 1 W of 785 nm light, which could be obtained from a low cost tapered amplifier diode system. Finally, we suggest methods for improving the laser performance.

Obtaining GW Tunable Nanometer Radiation Light Source

In order to reach soft x-ray wavelength starting from the UV seed laser, we used the recently Echo-Enabled Harmonic Generation (EEHG) scheme proposed by D. Xiang. This scheme uses two laser modulators in combination with two dispersion sections to generate higher harmonic radiation as compared with the normal limit arising from energy spread for HGHG. Using representative, realistic and optimized parameters, finally, we get the beam density modulation at the 88th harmonic of the seed laser. The performance of the above event is estimated by means of GENESIS.

Designs and numerical calculations for echo-enabled harmonic generation at very high harmonics

The echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) scheme for driving an FEL using two seeded energy modulations at much longer wavelengths than the output wavelength is a promising concept for future seeded FELs. There are many competing requirements in the design of an EEHG beamline which need careful optimization. Furthermore, revised simulation tools and methods are necessary because of both the high harmonic numbers simulated and the complicated nature of the phase space manipulations which are intrinsic to the scheme. This paper explores the constraints on performance and the required tolerances for reaching wavelengths well below 1/100th of that of the seed lasers, and describes some of the methodology for designing such a beamline. Numerical tools, developed both for the GENESIS and GINGER FEL codes, are presented and used here for more accurate study of the scheme beyond a time-averaged model. In particular, the impact of the local structure in peak current and bunching, which is an inherent part of the EEHG scheme, is evaluated.