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Development and characterization of an angle-resolved photo-electron spectrometer, based on the electron Time-of-Flight concept, designed for hard X-ray photon diagnostics at the European free-electron laser is described. The objective with the instrument is to provide beamline users and operators with pulse resolved, non-invasive spectral distribution diagnostics, which in the hard X-ray regime is a challenge due to the poor cross-section and often very high kinetic energy of photo electrons for the available target gases. In this contribution we describe development of the device, including electron trajectory simulations, and first tests with hard X-rays at the PETRA III synchrotron where we have characterized the performance and optimized the voltage settings for resolution and electron detection efficiency. We demonstrate a resolving power of better than 5 eV up to at least 20 keV photon energy.

Proceedings of the 12th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2021, Campinas, SP, Brazil 12th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC'21, Campinas, Brasil, 24 May 2021 - 28 May 2021; Geneva : JACoW Publishing 96-98 (2021). doi:10.18429/JACoW-IPAC2021-MOPAB018, Radiation detectors based on microchannel plates (MCP) are used for characterization of the Free-Electron Laser (FEL) radiation and measurements of the Self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) gain curve at the European XFEL. Photon pulse energies are measured by the MCPs with an anode and by a photodiode. There is one MCP-based detector unit installed in each of the three photon beamlines downstream of the SASE1, SASE2, and SASE3 undulators. MCP detectors operate in a wide dynamic range of pulse energies, from the level of spontaneous emission up to FEL saturation. Their wavelength operation range overlaps with the whole range of radiation wavelengths of SASE1 and SASE2 (from 0.05 nm to 0.4 nm), and SASE3 (from 0.4 nm to 5 nm). In this paper we present results of SASE gain-curve measurements by the MCP-based detectors., Published by JACoW Publishing, Geneva

Physical review accelerators and beams 24(3), 030701 (1-12) (2021). doi:10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.24.030701, Harmonic lasing provides an opportunity to extend the photon energy range of existing and planned X-ray 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 (HLSS) that allows to improve the longitudinal coherence and spectral power of a Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) FEL. This concept was tested at FLASH in the range of 4.5 - 15 nm and at PAL 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 3rd and 5th harmonic lasing and, for the first time, operated a harmonic lasing cascade (5th-3rd-1st harmonics of the undulator). These results pave the way for reaching very high photon energies, up to 100 keV., Published by American Physical Society, College Park, MD

The European XFEL is a high-repetition rate facility that generates high-power SASE radiation pulses in three beamlines. A joint upgrade project, with Finnish universities, to equip the SASE3 beamline with a chicane has been recently approved to generate two SASE pulses with different photon energies and temporal separation. In this work we report the status of the project, its expected performance, and recent experimental results. Additionally, we discuss methods to diagnose the properties of the generated radiation., Proceedings of the 39th Free Electron Laser Conference, FEL2019, Hamburg, Germany

Harmonic lasing in XFELs is an opportunity to extend the photon energy range of existing and planned X-ray FEL user facilities. Contrary to nonlinear harmonic generation, harmonic lasing can provide much more intense, stable, and narrow-band FEL beam. Another interesting application is Harmonic Lasing Self-Seeding (HLSS) that allows to improve longitudinal coherence and spectral power of a Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) FEL. This concept was successfully tested at FLASH2 in the range of 4.5 - 15 nm and at PAL XFEL at 1 nm. In this contribution we present recent results from the European XFEL where we successfully demonstrated operation of HLSS FEL at 5.9 A, thus pushing harmonic lasing for the first time into the Angstrom regime., Proceedings of the 10th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2019, Melbourne, Australia

North branch of the European XFEL, SASE1, produced first light on May 3rd, 2017, and XFEL operation has been gradually improved then. First characterization of the photon beam has been performed in July / August 2017, just before an official starting date of user experiments (September 1st, 2017). Energy of the electron beam was 14 GeV, bunch charge was 500 pC, photon energy was 9.3 keV. With photon diagnostics available at that time (X-ray gas monitor (XGM) and FEL imager) we measured the gain curve and traced evolution of the FEL radiation mode along the undulator. An important conclusion is that experimental results demonstrate reasonable agreement with baseline parameters. Developed techniques of the photon beam characterization also provided solid base for identification of the problems and means for improving SASE FEL tuning and operation., Proceedings of the 39th Free Electron Laser Conference, FEL2019, Hamburg, Germany

8th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC17, Kopenhagen, Denmark, 15 May 2017 - 19 May 2017; Geneva : JACoW, 2596-2599 (2017). doi:10.18429/JACoW-IPAC2017-WEPAB016, sFLASH, the experimental setup for external seeding of free-electron lasers (FEL) at FLASH, has been operated in the high-gain harmonic generation (HGHG) mode. A detailed characterization of the laser-induced energy modulation, as well as the temporal characterization of the seeded FEL pulses is possible by using a transverse deflecting structure and an electron spectrometer. FEL saturation was reached for the 7th harmonic of the 266 nm seed laser. In this contribution, we present the latest experimental results., Published by JACoW, Geneva

8th Intl. Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2017, Copenhagen, Denmark, 14 May 2017 - 19 May 2017 ; Geneva : JACoW, 2607-2610(2017). doi:10.18429/JACoW-IPAC2017-WEPAB019, The free-electron laser (FEL) FLASH is a user facility delivering photon pulses down to 4 nm wavelength. Recently, the second FEL undulator beamline FLASH2 was added to the facility. Operating in self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) mode, the exponential amplification process is initiated by shot noise of the electron bunch, resulting in photon pulses of limited temporal coherence. In seeded FELs, the FEL process is initiated by coherent seed radiation, improving the longitudinal coherence of the generated photon pulses. The conceptual design of a possible seeding option for the FLASH2 beamline foresees the installation of the hardware needed for high-gain harmonic generation (HGHG) seeding upstream of the already existing undulator system. In this contribution, we present the beamline design and numerical simulations of the seeded FEL., Published by JACoW, Geneva

The gain length of the free-electron laser (FEL) process strongly depends on the slice energy spread, slice emittance, and current of the electron bunch. At an FEL with only moderately compressed electron bunches, the slice energy spread is mainly determined by the compression process. In this regime, single-shot measurements using a transverse deflecting rf cavity enable the extraction of the longitudinal profile of the transverse emittance. At the free-electron laser FLASH at DESY, this technique was used to determine the slice properties of the electron bunch set up for seeded operation in the sFLASH experiment. Thereby, the performance of the seeded FEL process as a function of laser-electron timing can be predicted from these slice properties with the semi-analytical Ming-Xie model where only confined fractions of the electron bunch are stimulated to lase. The prediction is well in line with the FEL peak power observed during an experimental laser-electron timing scan. The power profiles of the FEL pulses were reconstructed from the longitudinal phase-space measurements of the seeded electron bunch that was measured with the rf deflector., Proceedings of the 38th Int. Free Electron Laser Conf., FEL2017, Santa Fe, NM, USA

The free-electron laser facility FLASH at DESY operates in SASE mode with MHz bunch trains of high-intensity extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray FEL pulses. A seeded beamline which is designed to be operated parasitically to the main SASE beamline has been used to test different external FEL seeding methods. First lasing at the 7th harmonic of a 266 nm seed laser using high-gain harmonic generation has been demonstrated. Studies of the influence of the microbunching instability are being pursued., Proceedings of the 37th International Free Electron Laser Conference, FEL2015, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

Collective effects and instabilities due to longitudinal space charge and coherent synchrotron radiation can degrade the quality of the ultra-relativistic, high-brightness electron bunches driving free-electron lasers (FELs). In this contribution, we demonstrate suppression of FEL lasing induced by a laser-triggered microbunching instability at the free-electron laser FLASH. The interaction between the electron bunches and the 800-nm laser pulses takes place in an undulator upstream of the FEL undulators. A significant decrease of XUV photon pulse energies has been observed in coincidence with the laser-electron overlap in the modulator. We discuss the underlying mechanisms based on longitudinal space charge amplification (LSCA) [E.A. Schneidmiller and M.V. Yurkov, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 13, 110701 (2010)] and present measurements., Proceedings of the 37th International Free Electron Laser Conference, FEL2015, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

Opportunities for FLASH2 Beamlines, Hamburg, Germany, 28 Jan 2014 - 28 Jan 2014 ; (2014).

Seeding of free-electron lasers (FELs) using external coherent optical pulses recently became an area of interest as users demand spectrally and temporally coherent FEL radiation which is not achievable in traditional self-amplified spontaneous emission operation mode. Since temporal and spectral properties of the seed laser pulses are directly imprinted on the electron bunch, a proper characterization of these seed pulses is needed. However, the lack of any measurement technique capable of characterizing ultrashort seed laser pulses at the laser-electron interaction region is a primary drawback. In thispaper we report indirect measurements of seed laser pulses in an undulator section using a transverse deflecting RF-structure (TDS) at the free-electron laser FLASH at DESY. Temporally chirped and unchirped seed pulse length measurements will be compared with second-harmonic generation frequency-resolved optical gating measurements and theoretical simulations. Using this technique we will demonstrate that pulse artifacts such as pre- and post-pulses in the seed pulse in the femtosecond and picosecond timescales can be identified without any temporal ambiguity.

Recently, the free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) at DESY has been upgraded considerably. Besides increasing the maximum energy to about 1.2 GeV and installation of a third harmonic rf cavity linearizing the longitudinal phase space distribution of the electron bunch, an FEL seeding experiment at wavelengths of about 35 nm has been installed. The goal is to establish direct FEL seeding employing coherent VUV pulses produced from a powerful drive laser by high-harmonic generation (HHG) in a gas cell. The project, called sFLASH, includes generation of the required HHG pulses, transporting it to the undulator entrance of a newly installed FEL-amplifier, controlling spatial, temporal and energy overlap with the electron bunches and setting up a pump-probe pilot experiment. Sophisticated diagnostics is installed to characterize both HHG and seeded FEL pulses, both in time and frequency domain. Compared to SASE-FEL pulses, almost perfect longitudinal coherence and improved synchronization possibilities for the user experiments are expected. In this paper the status of the experiment is presented., Proceedings of the 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2010, Kyoto, Japan

The free-electron laser facility FLASH at DESY operates since several years in SASE mode, delivering high-intensity FEL pulses in the extreme ultra violet and soft x-ray wavelength range for users. In order to get more control of the characteristics of the FEL pulses external FEL seeding has proven to be a reliable method to do so. At FLASH, an experimental setup to test several different external seeding methods has been installed since 2010. After successful demonstration of direct seeding at 38 nm, the setup is now being operated in HGHG and later EEHG mode. Furthermore, other studies on laser induced effects on the electron beam dynamics have been performed. In this contribution, we give an overview of recent experimental results on FEL seeding at FLASH., Proceedings of the 6th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2015, Richmond, VA, USA