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The LCLS hard X-ray Free Electron Laser at SLAC reported first lasing in April 2009. Since then two successful user runs have been completed at the two soft X-ray stations. The first hard X-ray station has started commissioning in July 2010. Beam diagnostics play an essential role for tuning the machine and delivering the requested beam properties to the users. An overview of the LCLS photon diagnostics will be presented including some selected commissioning results. Plans for future improvements and upgrades will be briefly discussed.

VISA (Visible to Infrared SASE Amplifier) is a high-gain self-amplified spontaneous emission FEL, which achieved saturation at 840 nm within a single-pass 4-m undulator. A gain length shorter than 18 cm has been obtained, yielding the gain of 2 ×108 at saturation. The FEL performance, including spectral, angular, and statistical properties of SASE radiation, has been characterized for different electron beam conditions. The results are compared to 3-D SASE FEL theory and start-to-end numerical simulations of the entire injector, transport, and FEL system. Detailed agreement between simulations and experimental results is obtained over the wide range of the electron beam parameters.© 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The experimental characterization of nonlinear harmonic generation (NHG) and electron beam microbunching at saturation from a visible SASE FEL are presented in this report. The gain lengths, spectra and energies of NHG were experimentally measured up to the third harmonic, and agree with theoretical predictions. Electron beam microbunching in both the fundamental and the second harmonic as the function of the SASE output were experimentally observed over the full range of SASE gain. The bunching factors for both the fundamental (b1) and second harmonic (b2) were experimentally characterized at saturation. The microbunching data provides another test of SASE saturation as well as correlating the NHG and electron beam microbunching modes to the fundamental SASE.© 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.PACS: 41.60. Cr;41.60. Ap;4185. Ja

Visible to Infrared SASE Amplifier is a free electron laser (FEL) designed to saturate at a radiation wavelength of 800 nm within a 4 m long, strong focusing undulator. Large gain is achieved by driving the FEL with 72 MeV, high brightness beam of BNL's accelerator test facility. We present measurements that demonstrate saturation in addition to the frequency spectrum of the FEL radiation. Energy, gain length and spectral characteristics are compared and shown to agree with simulation and theoretical predictions.

It is widely appreciated that the performance of self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron lasers (FELs) depends critically on the properties of the drive beam. In view of this, a multi-laboratory collaboration has explored methods and software tools for integrated simulation of the photoinjector, linear accelerator, bunch compressor, and FEL. Rather than create a single code to handle such a system, our goal has been a robust, generic solution wherein pre-existing simulation codes are used sequentially. We have standardized on the use of Argonne National Laboratory's Self-Describing Data Sets file protocol for transfer of data among codes. The simulation codes used are PARMELA, elegant , and GENESIS. We describe the software methodology and its advantages, then provide examples involving Argonne's Low-Energy Undulator Test Line and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's Linac Coherent Light Source. We also indicate possible future direction of this work.

The generation of harmonics through a nonlinear mechanism driven by bunching at the fundamental has sparked interest as a path toward enhancing and extending the usefulness of an x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) facility. The sensitivity of the nonlinear harmonic generation to undulator imperfections, electron beam energy spread, peak current, and emittance is important in an evaluation of the process. Typically, linear instabilities in FELs are characterized by increased sensitivity to both electron beam and undulator quality with increasing harmonic number. However, since the nonlinear harmonic generation mechanism is driven by the growth of the fundamental, the sensitivity of the nonlinear harmonic mechanism is not expected to be significantly greater than that of the fundamental. In this paper, they study the effects of electron beam quality, more specifically, emittance, energy spread, and peak current, on the nonlinear harmonics in a 1.5-{angstrom} FEL, and show that the decline in the harmonic emission roughly follows that of the fundamental.

The Visible to Infrared SASE Amplifier (VISA) FEL is designed to obtain high gain at a radiation wavelength of 800 nm. The FEL uses the high brightness electron beam of the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF), with energy of 72 MeV. VISA uses a novel, 4 m long, strong focusing undulator with a gap of 6 mm and a period of 1.8 cm. To obtain large gain the beam and undulator axis have to be aligned to better than 5 μm. Results from initial measurements on the alignment, gain, and spectrum will be presented and compared to theoretical calculations and simulations.

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) undulator line will consist of undulator segments separated by breaks of various lengths. Focusing quadrupoles, in a FODO lattice, and electron-beam diagnostics will be located in the breaks, and every third break will be longer to also accommodate photon diagnostics. The electron-beam beta function and the undulator period were selected to minimize the saturation length. The FEL simulation code RON has been used to optimize parameters such as the length of the undulators and the break lengths between undulators. Different break lengths after the first three undulators have been found to help reduce the overall undulator line saturation length. Tolerances for individual undulators have also been determined. r 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 41.60. Cr

There is strong interest in the development of X-ray Free Electron Lasers (X-ray FELs). The interest is driven by the scientific opportunities provided by intense, coherent X-rays. An X-ray FEL has all the characteristics of a fourth-generation source: brightness several orders of magnitude greater than presently achieved in third-generation sources, full transverse coherence, and sub-picosecond long pulses. The SLAC and DESY laboratories have presented detailed design studies for X-ray FEL user-facilities around the 0.1 nm wavelength regime (LCLS at SLAC, TESLA X-ray FEL at DESY). Both laboratories are engaged in proof-of-principle experiments at longer wavelengths (TTF FEL Phase I at 71 nm, VISA at 600–800 nm) with results expected in 1999. The technologies needed to achieve the proposed performances are those of bright electron sources, of acceleration systems capable of preserving the brightness of the source, and of undulators capable of meeting the magnetic and mechanical tolerances that are required for operation in the SASE mode. This paper discusses the technological challenges presented by the X-ray FEL projects.

We describe the status and initial commissioning of the Visible to Infrared SASE Amplifier (VISA) experiment. VISA uses a strong focusing 4 m undulator, the Brookhaven National Laboratory ATF linac with an energy of 72 MeV, and a photoinjector electron source. The VISA fundamental radiation wavelength is near 800 nm and the power expected at saturation is near 60 MW. Power, angular and spectral measurements are planned for the VISA radiation and these results will be analyzed and compared with SASE FEL theory and computer simulation. In addition, the induced electron beam micro-bunching will be measured using coherent transition radiation.

A self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL) is under construction at the Advanced Photon Source (APS). Five FEL simulation codes were used in the design phase: GENESIS, GINGER, MEDUSA, RON, and TDA3D. Initial comparisons between each of these independent formulations show good agreement for the parameters of the APS SASE FEL.

The linac coherent light source (LCLS) (LCLS Design Study Report, SLAC-R-521, 1998) is an X-ray FEL based on a long, permanent magnet undulator comprised of multiple segments which provide space for electron beam position monitors (BPMs) and quadrupole focusing magnets. The 15 GeV electron trajectory within the undulator must be straight to ∼5 μ m over a gain length of 11 m so that the photon beam overlaps efficiently with the electron beam. This alignment precision is not achievable with available mechanical survey methods. For this reason, an empirical beam-based alignment technique is developed that uses BPM readings in conjuntion with large, deliberate variations in the electron energy. We describe here a detailed alignment simulation including BPM and magnet-mover calibration errors, quadrupole gradient errors, and dipole field errors which demonstrate that the alignment can be achieved with high confidence.

A first Design Study Report has recently been completed [1] for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), a proposal to build an x-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) as a single pass SASE (Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission) amplifier. The proposal includes the use of a very low emittance electron beam accelerated up to 15 GeV by the last third of the SLAC linac to produce sub-picosecond x-ray pulses with high brightness and full transverse coherence in a 112-meter long undulator. Many aspects of the FEL design have been analyzed with FEL simulation codes. The paper discusses some of the results of these aspects, i.e. temporal x-ray pulse structure and power sprectrum, trajectory errors and effects of undulator beam tube wakefields.

An FEL utilizing a high energy, high current and low emittance beam to produce radiation shorter than 2Ais investigated in this paper. This device is an extension of the previously proposed 40ALinac Coherent Light Source based on the Stanford linear accelerator. Here we investigate the performance characteristics and parameter sensitivities of this single pass, high gain FEL amplifier operating by self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE). We begin by comparing various approaches to this short wavelength source and justify our choice of a helical undulator operating on the fundamental frequency. Numerical simulations as well as extensions of previous studies are used to show performance as a function of undulator parameters, startup noise, emittance, focusing, current and energy spread. Further studies and parameter modifications are proposed where needed.

Recent technological developments have opened the possibility to construct a device which we call a linac coherent light source (LCLS) (C. Pellegrini et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 331 (1993) 223; H. Winick et al., Proc. IEEE 1993 Particle Accelerator Conf., Washington, DC, May 1993; C. Pellegrini, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 341 (1994) 326; J. Seeman, SPIE Meet. on Electron Beam Sources of High Brightness Radiation, San Diego, CA, July 1993 [1–4]); it would be a fourth-generation light source, with brightness, coherence, and peak power far exceeding other sources. Operating on the principle of the free electron laser (FEL), the LCLS would extend the range of FEL operation to much shorter wavelength than the 240 nm that has so far been reached. We report the results of studies of the use of the SLAC linac to drive an LCLS at wavelengths from about 3 to 100 nm initially and possibly even shorter wavelengths in the future. Lasing would be achieved in a single pass of a low emittance, high peak current, high-energy electron beam through a long undulator. Most present FELs use an optical cavity to build up the intensity of the light to achieve lasing action in a low-gain oscillator configuration. By eliminating the optical cavity, which is difficult to make at short wavelengths, laser action can be extended to shorter wavelengths by self-amplified-spontaneous-emission (SASE), or by harmonic generation from a longer wavelength seed laser. Short wavelength, single pass lasers have been extensively studied at several laboratories and at recent workshops (M. Cornacchia and H. Winick (eds.), SLAC Report 92/02; I. Ben-Zvi and H. Winick (eds.), BNL report 49651 [5,6]). The required low-emittance electron beam can be achieved with recently-developed rf photocathode electron guns (B.E. Carlsten, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 285 (1989) 313; J. Rosenzweig and L. Serafini, Proc. IEEE 1993 Particle Accelerator Conf., Washington, DC, 1993 [7,8]). The peak current is increased by about an order of magnitude by compressing the bunch to a lenght of about 0.2 ps (rms). Techniques for beam transport, acceleration, and compression without emittance dilution have been developed at SLAC as part of the linear-collider project (J. Seeman, Advances of Accelerator Physics and Technologies, ed. H. Schopper (World Scientific, Singapore, 1993 [9]). The undulator length required to saturate the laser varies from about 15 m for a 100 nm FEL to about 60 m at 3 nm. Initial experiments, at wavelengths down to about 50 nm are planned using the 25-m long Paladin undulator now located at LLNL. In a proposed future LCLS R&D facility the short wavelength light pulses are distributed to multiple end stations using grazing-incidence mirrors. About 10 14 photons per pulse can be produced at a 120 Hz rate, corresponding to average brightness levels of about 10 21 photons/s/mm 2 /mrad 2 within 0.1% BW and peak brightness levels of about 10 31 photons/s/mm 2 /mrad 2 within 0.1% BW. Peak power levels are several hundred megawatts to several gigawatts. Electron energies required range from about 500 MeV for the 100 nm FEL to about 7 GeV for 3 nm.

We discuss the design and performance of a 2 to 4 nm FEL operating in Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE), using a photoinjector to produce the electron beam, and the SLAC linac to accelerate it to an energy of about 7 GeV. Longitudinal bunch compression is used to increase the peak current to 2.5 kA, while reducing the bunch length to about 40 μm. The FEL field gain length is about 6 m, and the saturation length is about 60 m. The saturated output power is about 10 GW, corresponding to about 1014 photons in a single pulse in a bandwidth of about 0.1%, with a pulse duration of 0.16 ps. Length compression, emittance control, phase stability, FEL design criteria, and parameter tolerances are discussed.

We report the results of preliminary studies of a 2 to 4 nm SASE FEL, using a photoinjector to produce the electron beam, and the SLAC linac to accelerate it to an energy up to 10 GeV. Longitudinal bunch compression is used to increase ten fold the peak current to 2.5 kA, while reducing the bunch length to the subpicosecond range. The saturated output power is in the multi-gigawatt range, producing about 1014 coherent photons within a bandwidth of about 0.2% rms, in a pulse of several millijoules. At 120 Hz repetition rate the average power is about 1 W. The system is optimized for X-ray microscopy in the water window around 2 to 4 nm, and will permit imaging a biological sample in a single subpicosecond pulse.

The use of a large-circumference, high-energy, electron-positron collider such as PEP, TRISTAN or PETRA to drive a free-electron laser (FEL), producing high levels of coherent power at short wavelengths around 40 A is explored. We consider self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), in which electron bunches with low emittance, high peak current and small energy spread radiate coherently in a single pass through a long undulator. As the electron beam passes down the undulator, its interaction with the increasingly intense spontaneous radiation causes a bunch density modulation at the optical wavelength, resulting in stimulated emission and exponential growth of coherent power in a single pass. The need for optical-cavity mirrors, which place a lower limit on the wavelength of a conventional FEL oscillator, is avoided. Various combinations of electron-beam and undulator parameters, as well as special undulator designs, are discussed. Saturation and high peak, in-band, coherent power (460 MW) are possible with a 67 m, hybrid permanent-magnet undulator in a ring bypass. A 100 m, cusp-field undulator can achieve high average, in-band, coherent power (0.25 W) in the main ring. The existing, 25.6 m. Paladin undulator at LLNL, with the addition of optical-klystron dispersive sections, is considered for both peak and average power.

We explore the use of the 2.2-km PEP storage ring at SLAC to drive a 40-{Angstrom} free-electron laser in the self-amplified spontaneous emission configuration. Various combinations for electron-beam and undulator parameters, as well as special undulator designs, are discussed. Saturation and high peak, in-band, coherent power (460 MW) are possible with a 67-m, hybrid permanent-magnet undulator in a ring bypass. A 100-m, cusp-field undulator can achieve high average, in-band, coherent power (0.25 W) in the main ring. The existing, 25.6-m, Paladin undulator at LLNL, with the addition of optical-klystron dispersive sections, is considered for both peak and average power. 35 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.