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The development of new modes at x-ray free electron lasers has inspired novel methods for studying fluctuations at different energies and timescales. For closely spaced x-ray pulses that can be varied on ultrafast time scales, we have constructed a pair of advanced instruments to conduct studies targeting quantum materials. We first describe a prototype instrument built to test the proof-of-principle of resonant magnetic scattering using ultrafast pulse pairs. This is followed by a description of a new endstation, the so-called fluctuation–dissipation measurement instrument, which was used to carry out studies with a fast area detector. In addition, we describe various types of diagnostics for single-shot contrast measurements, which can be used to normalize data on a pulse-by-pulse basis and calibrate pulse amplitude ratios, both of which are important for the study of fluctuations in materials. Furthermore, we present some new results using the instrument that demonstrates access to higher momentum resolution.

We present design and characteristics of a population inversion X-ray laser oscillator (XLO) at LCLS. We report on first experiments and future plans towards XLO demonstration. We also discuss necessary upgrades to LCLS for optimized XLO performance.

Current and future experiments at LCLS require x-ray pulse trains of variable time separation on the nanosecond scale. For instance, the cavity-based XFEL (CBXFEL) will use up to 4 pulses separated by 218.5 ns, the X-ray Laser Oscillator (XLO) will use 15 to 25 ns spaced pulses, and the Matter under Extreme Conditions (MEC) experiments use pulse trains separated by 5 nanoseconds or less. In this paper, we demonstrate an ultra-fast e-beam trajectory control method based on transverse electro-magnetic (TEM) striplines and state-of-the-art power sources, to enhance LCLS operations in these regimes.

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) enable obtaining novel insights in structural biology. The recently available MHz repetition rate XFELs allow full data sets to be collected in shorter time and can also decrease sample consumption. However, the microsecond spacing of MHz XFEL pulses raises new challenges, including possible sample damage induced by shock waves that are launched by preceding pulses in the sample-carrying jet. We explored this matter with an X-ray-pump/X-ray-probe experiment employing haemoglobin microcrystals transported via a liquid jet into the XFEL beam. Diffraction data were collected using a shock-wave-free single-pulse scheme as well as the dual-pulse pump-probe scheme. The latter, relative to the former, reveals significant degradation of crystal hit rate, diffraction resolution and data quality. Crystal structures extracted from the two data sets also differ. Since our pump-probe attributes were chosen to emulate EuXFEL operation at its 4.5 MHz maximum pulse rate, this prompts concern about such data collection., X-ray fee-electron lasers (XFELs) enable time-resolved crystallography experiments and the structure determination of proteins with little or no radiation damage. However currently it is unknown whether the designated 4.5 MHz maximum pulse rate for the European XFEL could lead to sample damage caused by shock waves from preceding pulses. Here, the authors address this question by performing a X-ray pump X-ray probe experiment on haemoglobin microcrystals at the Stanford XFEL facility that mimics the 4.5 MHz data collection mode and observe structural changes and a drop in diffraction data quality of the crystals.

Details and performances of a transmissive pulse intensity diagnostic for the LCLS ‘nanosecond double-bunch’ mode are presented., The recent demonstration of the ‘nanosecond double-bunch’ operation mode, i.e. two X-ray pulses separated in time between 0.35 and hundreds of nanoseconds and by increments of 0.35 ns, offers new opportunities to investigate ultrafast dynamics in diverse systems of interest. However, in order to reach its full potential, this mode of operation requires the precise characterization of the intensity of each X-ray pulse within each pulse pair for any time separation. Here, a transmissive single-shot diagnostic that achieves this goal for time separations larger than 0.7 ns with a precision better than 5% is presented. It also provides real-time monitoring feedback to help tune the accelerator parameters to deliver double pulse intensity distributions optimized for specific experimental goals.

X-ray free-electron lasers combine a high pulse power, short pulse length, narrow bandwidth, and high degree of transverse coherence. Any increase in the photon pulse power, while shortening the pulse length, will further push the frontier on several key x-ray free-electron laser applications including single-molecule imaging and novel nonlinear x-ray methods. This Letter shows experimental results at the Linac Coherent Light Source raising its maximum power to more than 300% of the current limit while reducing the photon pulse length to 10 fs. This was achieved by minimizing residual transverse-longitudinal centroid beam offsets and beam yaw and by correcting the dispersion when operating over 6 kA peak current with a longitudinally shaped beam.

We propose a new compact scheme for a Free Electron Laser with more coherent properties for the X-ray beam. Higher FEL performance would be achieved using a train of electron bunches initially accelerated in a linear accelerator. Similar to the RF klystron concept, we propose developing an X-ray FEL which consists of two parts: an X-ray self-seeding electron beam density modulator and an output set of undulators. A density modulator consists of a low-Q X-ray cavity and an undulator, which is placed between the cavity mirrors. We use this undulator as a very high gain amplifier, which compensates the amplitude loss due to monochromatic X-ray reflections from the mirrors. Following the X-ray cavity, the density modulated electron beam is separated from the X-ray beam and then enters the output set of undulators. The frequency spectrum of the final X-ray beam is determined mainly by the bandwidth of the reflected elements in the X-ray cavity.

We report an x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy method that exploits the recent development of the two-pulse mode at the Linac Coherent Light Source. By using coherent resonant x-ray magnetic scattering, we studied spontaneous fluctuations on nanosecond time scales in thin films of multilayered Fe/Gd that exhibit ordered stripe and Skyrmion lattice phases. The correlation time of the fluctuations was found to differ between the Skyrmion phase and near the stripe-Skyrmion boundary. This technique will enable a significant new area of research on the study of equilibrium fluctuations in condensed matter.

Most experimental studies of cavitation in liquid water at negative pressures reported cavitation at tensions significantly smaller than those expected for homogeneous nucleation, suggesting that achievable tensions are limited by heterogeneous cavitation. We generated tension pulses with nanosecond rise times in water by reflecting cylindrical shock waves, produced by X-ray laser pulses, at the internal surface of drops of water. Depending on the X-ray pulse energy, a range of cavitation phenomena occurred, including the rupture and detachment, or spallation, of thin liquid layers at the surface of the drop. When spallation occurred, we evaluated that negative pressures below −100 MPa were reached in the drops. We model the negative pressures from shock reflection experiments using a nucleation-and-growth model that explains how rapid decompression could outrun heterogeneous cavitation in water, and enable the study of stretched water close to homogeneous cavitation pressures.

Lasing in a hard-X-ray free-electron laser is typically seeded from noise due to the self-amplification of spontaneous emission, which limits temporal coherence and spectral characteristics. Researchers now demonstrate self-seeding using X-rays from the first half of the magnetic undulator to seed the second half via a diamond-based monochromator at angstrom wavelengths.

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.

The Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron laser has now achieved coherent X-ray generation down to a wavelength of 1.2 A and at a brightness that is nearly ten orders of magnitude higher than conventional synchrotrons. Researchers detail the first operation and beam characteristics of the system, which give hope for imaging at atomic spatial and temporal scales.

A longitudinal polarized positron beam is foreseen for the international linear collider (ILC). A proof-of-principle experiment has been performed in the final focus test beam at SLAC to demonstrate the production of polarized positrons for implementation at the ILC. The E166 experiment uses a 1 m long helical undulator in a 46.6 GeV electron beam to produce a few MeV photons with a high degree of circular polarization. These photons are then converted in a thin target to generate longitudinally polarized e + and e −. The positron polarization is measured using a Compton transmission polarimeter. The data analysis has shown asymmetries in the expected vicinity of 3.4% and ∼1% for photons and positrons respectively and the expected positron longitudinal polarization is covering a range from 50% to 90%.

The X-ray free-electron laser has opened a new era for photon science, improving the X-ray brightness by ten orders of magnitude over previously available sources. Similar to an optical laser, the spectral and temporal structure of the radiation pulses can be tailored to the specific needs of many experiments by accurately manipulating the lasing medium, that is, the electron beam. Here we report the generation of mJ-level two-colour hard X-ray pulses of few femtoseconds duration with an XFEL driven by twin electron bunches at the Linac Coherent Light Source. This performance represents an improvement of over an order of magnitude in peak power over state-of-the-art two-colour XFELs. The unprecedented intensity and temporal coherence of this new two-colour X-ray free-electron laser enable an entirely new set of scientific applications, ranging from X-ray pump/X-ray probe experiments to the imaging of complex biological samples with multiple wavelength anomalous dispersion., Two-colour X-ray pulses from free-electron lasers can be used to probe ultrafast dynamics, but the total power is a fraction of the saturation power. Here, Marinelli et al. use twin electron bunches to reach full saturation power and increase the two-colour intensity by an order of magnitude at hard-X-ray energies.

The Linac Coherent Light Source has added a self-seeding capability to the soft x-ray range using a grating monochromator system. We report the demonstration of soft x-ray self-seeding with a measured resolving power of 2000–5000, wavelength stability of 10$^{−4}$, and an increase in peak brightness by a factor of 2–5 across the photon energy range of 500–1000 eV. By avoiding the need for a monochromator at the experimental station, the self-seeded beam can deliver as much as 50-fold higher brightness to users.

A systematic investigation of the longitudinal fields excited in a plasma by a short, dense beam of positrons is carried out using two-dimensional, cylindrical geometry, particle-in-cell code simulations. In particular, we examine the behavior of the accelerating and decelerating fields of the wakefield as a function of beam charge, radius, length, and plasma density. The parameters are chosen to be consistent with those employed in current and future experiments designed to elucidate the physics of positron beam–plasma interactions.

Experiment E158 at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) will make the first measurement of parity violation in Moller scattering. The left-right cross-section asymmetry in the elastic scattering of a 45-GeV polarized electron beam with unpolarized electrons in a liquid hydrogen target will be measured to an accuracy of better than 10/sup -8/, with the expected Standard Model asymmetry being approximately 10/sup -7/. Because helicity-correlated (left-right) charge and position asymmetries in the electron beam can give rise to systematic errors in the measurement, great care must be given to beam monitoring and control. We have developed beam current monitors that measure the charge per pulse at the 3 /spl times/ 10/sup -5/ level and RF cavity beam position monitors that measure the position per pulse to 1 /spl mu/m, which should allow precisions of 1 ppb and 1 nm for the final integrated charge and position asymmetries, respectively. In addition, since most helicity-correlated systematics in the electron beam can be traced back to the laser that drives the photoemission from the GaAs source cathode, we first use careful control of laser beam polarization, point-to-point imaging, and other techniques to minimize systematics. We also provide the capability of modulating in a helicity-correlated way the laser beam's intensity and position as it strikes the photocathode, allowing the implementation of active feedbacks to ensure that the average charge and position asymmetries integrate close to zero over the course of the experiment. We present this system of precision beam monitoring and control and report on its performance during a recent commissioning run, T-437 at SLAC, which demonstrated charge and position asymmetry precisions of 12 ppb and 2 nm, respectively.

When a beam travels near collimator jaws, it gets an energy loss and a transverse kick due to the backreaction of the beam field diffracted from the jaws. The effect becomes very important for an intense short bunch when a tight collimation of the background beam halo is required. In the Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC a collimation system is used to protect the undulators from radiation due to particles in the beam halo. The halo is most likely formed from gun dark current or dark current in some of the accelerating sections. However, collimators are also responsible for the generation of wake fields. The wake field effect from the collimators not only brings an additional energy jitter and change in the trajectory of the beam, but it also rotates the beam on the phase plane, which consequently leads to a degradation of the performance of the Free Electron Laser at the Linac Coherent Light Source. In this paper, we describe a model of the wake field radiation in the SLAC linac collimators. We use the results of a numerical simulation to illustrate the model. Based on the model, we derive simple formulas for the bunch energy loss andmore » the average kick. In addition, we also present results from experimental measurements that confirm our model.« less

X-ray free-electron lasers, with pulse durations ranging from a few to several hundred femtoseconds, are uniquely suited for studying atomic, molecular, chemical and biological systems. Characterizing the temporal profiles of these femtosecond X-ray pulses that vary from shot to shot is not only challenging but also important for data interpretation. Here we report the time-resolved measurements of X-ray free-electron lasers by using an X-band radiofrequency transverse deflector at the Linac Coherent Light Source. We demonstrate this method to be a simple, non-invasive technique with a large dynamic range for single-shot electron and X-ray temporal characterization. A resolution of less than 1 fs root mean square has been achieved for soft X-ray pulses. The lasing evolution along the undulator has been studied with the electron trapping being observed as the X-ray peak power approaches 100 GW.

The performance of future linear colliders will depend critically on beam-based alignment and feedback systems. In ILC and CLIC it is planned to perform dispersion-free steering in the main linacs. To this end the beams are accelerated with different gradients to evaluate the dispersion. The steering is performed by minimizing the average offset of the different beams in the beam position monitors and, at the same time, the difference between the beam trajectories. The experimental verification of the dispersion-free steering algorithm is essential to prove its effectiveness and to prepare the commissioning of such machines. The algorithm should take an orbit measurement at every cycle (train to train), estimate the correction from this information, and, from the system response matrices, apply the correction. We have successfully tested dispersion-free steering at FACET, including an adaptive system-identification algorithm, where the system response matrix is measured dynamically and automatically.

In the E-157 experiment now being conducted at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a 30 GeV electron beam of 2×1010 electrons in a 0.65-mm-long bunch is propagated through a 1.4-m-long lithium plasma of density up to 2×1014 e−/cm3. The initial beam density is greater than the plasma density, and the head of the bunch expels the plasma electrons leaving behind a uniform ion channel with transverse focusing fields of up to several thousand tesla per meter. The initial transverse beam size with σ=50–100 μm is larger than the matched size of 5 μm resulting in up to three beam envelope oscillations within the plasma. Time integrated optical transition radiation is used to study the transverse beam profile immediately before and after the plasma and to characterize the transverse beam dynamics as a function of plasma density. The head of the bunch deposits energy into plasma wakes, resulting in longitudinal accelerating fields which are witnessed by the tail of the same bunch. A time-resolved Cherenkov imag...

Using a singular value decomposition of a beam line matrix, composed of many beam position measurements for a large number of pulses, together with the measurement of pulse-by-pulse beam properties or machine attributes, the contributions of each variable to the beam centroid motion can be identified with a greatly improved resolution. The eigenvalues above the noise floor determine the number of significant physical variables. This method is applicable to storage rings, linear accelerators, and any system involving a number of sources and a larger number of sensors with unknown correlations. Applications are presented from the Stanford Linear Collider. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}

A plasma-based wakefield acceleration experiment E-157 has been approved at SLAC to study acceleration of parts of an SLC bunch by up to 1 GeV/m over a length of 1 m. A single SLC bunch is used to both induce wakefields in the 1 m long plasma and to witness the resulting beam acceleration. The experiment will explore and further develop the techniques that are needed to apply high-gradient plasma wakefield acceleration to large-scale accelerators. The 1 m length of the experiment is about two orders of magnitude larger than for other high gradient plasma wakefield acceleration experiments and the 1 GeV/m accelerating gradient is roughly ten times larger than that achieved with conventional metallic structures. Using existing SLAC facilities, the experiment will study high gradient acceleration at the forefront of advanced accelerator research.

The proposed plasma lens experiment at the Final focus Test Beam (FFTB) facility of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (Chen et al. SLAC, 1997) [1] has been approved by the adminstration. The experiment would allow the examination of plasma focusing devices for particle beams in the parameter regime of interest to future high-energy colliders. It is expected to lead to compact plasma lens designs capable of focusing the beam to unprecedented small spot sizes.

We report the first measurements of x-ray single-pulse duration and two-pulse separation at the Linac Coherent Light Source using a cross-correlation technique involving x rays and electrons. An emittance-spoiling foil is adopted as a very simple and effective method to control the output x-ray pulse. A minimum pulse duration of about 3 fs full width at half maximum has been measured together with a controllable pulse separation (delay) between two pulses. This technique provides critical temporal diagnostics for x-ray experiments such as x-ray pump-probe studies. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.254802

Laser-based techniques have been widely used for cleaning metal photocathodes to increase quantum efficiency (QE). However, the impact of laser cleaning on cathode uniformity and thereby on electron beam quality are less understood. We are evaluating whether this technique can be applied to revive photocathodes used for high-brightness electron sources in advanced x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) facilities, such as the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The laser-based cleaning was applied to two separate areas of the current LCLS photocathode on July 4 and July 26, 2011, respectively. The QE was increased by 8--10 times upon the laser cleaning. Since the cleaning, routine operation has exhibited a slow evolution of the QE improvement and comparatively rapid improvement of transverse emittance, with a factor of 3 QE enhancement over five months, and a significant emittance improvement over the initial 2--3 weeks following the cleaning. Currently, the QE of the LCLS photocathode is holding constant at about $1.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$, with a normalized injector emittance of about $0.3\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ for a 150-pC bunch charge. With the proper procedures, the laser-cleaning technique appears to be a viable tool to revive the LCLS photocathode. We present observations and analyses for the QE and emittance evolution in time following the laser-based cleaning of the LCLS photocathode, and comparison to the previous studies, the measured thermal emittance versus the QE and comparison to the theoretical model.

Information concerning to a stability of LCLS RF linac modulators is allocated in this paper. In general a “pulse-to-pulse” modulator stability (and RF phase as well) is acceptable for the LCLS commission and FEL programs. Further modulator stability improvements are possible and approaches are discussed based on our experimental results.

PEP-II/BABAR are presently in their second physics run. With machine and detector performance and reliability at an all-time high, almost 51 fb{sup -1} have been integrated by BABAR up to mid-October 2001. PEP-II luminosity has reached 4.4 x 10{sup 33} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} and our highest monthly delivered luminosity has been above 6 pb{sup -1}, exceeding the performance parameters given in the PEP-II CDR by almost 50%. The increase compared to the first run in 2000 has been achieved by a combination of beam-current increase and beam-size decrease. In this paper we will summarize the PEP-II performance and the present limitations as well as our plans to further increase machine performance.

We present a precise measurement of the left-right cross section asymmetry ([ital A][sub [ital L][ital R]]) for [ital Z] boson production by [ital e][sup +][ital e][sup [minus]] collisions. The measurement was performed at a center-of-mass energy of 91.26 GeV with the SLD detector at the SLAC Linear Collider (SLC). The luminosity-weighted average polarization of the SLC electron beam was (63.0[plus minus]1.1)%. Using a sample of 49 392 [ital Z] decays, we measure [ital A][sub [ital L][ital R]] to be 0.1628[plus minus]0.0071(stat)[plus minus]0.0028(syst) which determines the effective weak mixing angle to be sin[sup 2][theta][sub [ital W]][sup eff]=0.2292[plus minus]0.0009(stat) [plus minus]0.0004(syst).

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is an x-ray Free-Electron Laser (FEL) project that has just achieved its first lasing at 1.5 {angstrom} radiation wavelength. The very bright electron beam required to drive this FEL is susceptible to a microbunching instability in the magnetic bunch compressors that may increase the slice energy spread beyond the FEL tolerance. To control the slice energy spread and to suppress the microbunching instability, a laser heater (LH) system is installed in the LCLS injector area at 135 MeV, right before the RF deflector that is used for the time-resolved electron diagnostics. This unique component is used to add a small level of intrinsic energy spread to the electron beam in order to Landau damp the microbunching instability before it potentially breaks up the high brightness electron beam. The system was fully installed and tested in the fall of 2008, and effects of heating on the electron beam and the x-ray FEL were studied during the 2009 commissioning period. The laser heater system is composed of a 4-dipole chicane; a 9-period, planar, permanent-magnet, adjustable-gap undulator at the center of the chicane; one OTR screen on each side of the undulator for electron/laser spatial alignment; and more » an IR laser (up to 15-MW power) which co-propagates with the electron beam inside the undulator generating a 758-nm energy modulation along the bunch. The final two dipoles of the 4-dipole chicane time-smear this modulation leaving only a thermal-like intrinsic energy spread within the bunch. Table 1 lists the main parameters for this system. The very bright electron beam required for an x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), such as the LCLS, is susceptible to a microbunching instability in the magnetic bunch compressors, prior to the FEL undulator. The uncorrelated electron energy spread in the LCLS can be increased by an order of magnitude to provide strong Landau damping against the instability without degrading the FEL performance. To this end, a 'laser-heater' system has been installed in the LCLS injector, which modulates the energy of a 135-MeV electron bunch with an IR laser beam in a short undulator, enclosed within a four-dipole chicane. The last half of the chicane time-smears the energy modulation leaving an effective thermal energy spread increase. We present the first commissioning results of this system, its operational issues, its impact on the microbunching instability, and finally its effect on the FEL performance. « less

The success of this proposal will open new areas of Chemistry with antimatter: (1) new chemical dynamics; (2) exclusive production of parent ions by energy-tuning the positrons; (3) formation of antimatter compounds; (4) nano- and microscopic imaging of molecules, cells, and tumors (5) multi-positron systems and their thermodynamics and chemical kinetics. Also with o-Ps and p-Ps physics including speculations of dark mater (PAMELA & ATIC reported excesses in the e{sup +}e{sup -} cosmic rays).

The linac coherent light source (LCLS) is a self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL) operating at fundamental photon energies from 0.5 to 10 keV. Characterization of the higher harmonics present in the FEL beam is important to users, for whom harder x rays can either extend the useful operating wavelength range or increase experimental backgrounds. We present measurements of the power in both the second and third harmonics, and compare the results to expectations from simulations. We also present studies of the transport of harmonics to the users, and the harmonic power as a function of electron beam quality.

We present the first measurement of the left-right cross section asymmetry (${\mathit{A}}_{\mathit{L}\mathit{R}}$) for Z boson production by ${\mathit{e}}^{+}$${\mathit{e}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ collisions. The measurement was performed at a center-of-mass energy of 91.55 GeV with the SLD detector at the SLAC Linear Collider which utilized a longitudinally polarized electron beam. The average beam polarization was (22.4\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.6)%. Using a sample of 10 224 Z decays, we measure ${\mathit{A}}_{\mathit{L}\mathit{R}}$ to be 0.100\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.044(stat)\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.004(syst), which determines the effective weak mixing angle to be ${\mathrm{sin}}^{2}$${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\theta}}}_{\mathit{W}}^{\mathit{e}\mathit{f}\mathit{f}}$=0.2378 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0056(stat)\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0005(syst).

The very bright electron beam required for an x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), such as the linac coherent light source (LCLS), is susceptible to a microbunching instability in the magnetic bunch compressors, prior to the FEL undulator. The uncorrelated electron energy spread in the LCLS can be increased by an order of magnitude to provide strong Landau damping against the instability without degrading the FEL performance. To this end, a ``laser-heater'' system has been installed in the LCLS injector, which modulates the energy of a 135-MeV electron bunch with an IR-laser beam in a short undulator, enclosed within a four-dipole chicane. In this paper, we report detailed measurements of laser-heater-induced energy spread, including the unexpected self-heating phenomenon when the laser energy is very low. We discuss the suppression of the microbunching instability with the laser heater and its impact on the x-ray FEL performance. We also present the analysis of these experimental results and develop a three-dimensional longitudinal space charge model to explain the self-heating effect.

Full exploitation of the physics potential of a future International Linear Collider will require the use of polarized electron and positron beams. Experiment E166 at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) has demonstrated a scheme in which an electron beam passes through a helical undulator to generate photons (whose first-harmonic spectrum extended to 7.9MeV) with circular polarization, which are then converted in a thin target to generate longitudinally polarized positrons and electrons. The experiment was carried out with a one-meter-long, 400-period, pulsed helical undulator in the Final Focus Test Beam (FFTB) operated at 46.6GeV. Measurements of the positron polarization have been performed at five positron energies from 4.5 to 7.5MeV. In addition, the electron polarization has been determined at 6.7MeV, and the effect of operating the undulator with a ferrofluid was also investigated. To compare the measurements with expectations, detailed simulations were made with an upgraded version of Geant4 that includes the dominant polarization-dependent interactions of electrons, positrons, and photons with matter. The measurements agree with calculations, corresponding to 80% polarization for positrons near 6MeV and 90% for electrons near 7MeV., 64 pages, 63 figures

Multi-GeV trapped electron bunches in a plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA) are observed with normalized transverse emittance divided by peak current, {epsilon}{sub N,x}/I{sub t}, below the level of 0.2 {micro}m/kA. A theoretical model of the trapped electron emittance, developed here, indicates that emittance scales inversely with the square root of the plasma density in the nonlinear 'bubble' regime of the PWFA. This model and simulations indicate that the observed values of {epsilon}{sub N,x}/I{sub t} result from multi-GeV trapped electron bunches with emittances of a few {micro}m and multi-kA peak currents.

In order to reach the high peak current required for an x-ray free electron laser, two separate magnetic dipole chicanes are used in the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) accelerator to compress the electron bunch length in stages. In these bunch compressors, coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) can be emitted either by a short electron bunch or by any longitudinal density modulation that may be on the bunch. In this paper, we report detailed measurements of the CSR-induced energy loss and transverse emittance growth in these compressors. Good agreement is found between the experimental results and multi-particle tracking studies. We also describe direct observations of CSR at optical wavelengths and compare with analytical models based on beam microbunching.

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is an x-ray free-electron laser project presently in a commissioning phase at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We report here on very low-emittance measurements made at low bunch charge, and a few femtosecond bunch length produced by the LCLS bunch compressors. Start-to-end simulations associated with these beam parameters show the possibilities of generating hundreds of GW at 1.5 A x-ray wavelength and nearly a single longitudinally coherent spike at 1.5 nm with 2-fs duration.