SASE free electron lasers as short wavelength coherent sources

During the last few years free electron lasers (FELs) based on self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) have been demonstrated at wavelengths of 12 μm [1], 830 nm [2], 530 nm [3] and 385 nm [3], and around 100 nm [4]. Recently, saturation has been observed in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectral region between 82 nm and 125 nm at the TESLA Test Facility (TTF) at DESY. The radiation pulses have been characterized with respect to pulse energy, statistical fluctuations, angular divergence and spectral distribution, both in the linear gain and in the saturation regime of the FEL [5-6]. The results are in good agreement with theoretical simulations, providing a solid basis for other projects aiming at still shorter wavelengths down to the 0.1 nm range [7-8].