Study of an HHG-Seeded Free-Electron Laser for the LBNL Next Generation Light Source
The Next Generation Light Source (NGLS) is a high repetition rate free-electron laser facility proposed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The proposed facility will provide multiple FEL lines with varying spectral characteristics to satisfy a broad soft X-ray physics programme. At this stage of the project a number of FEL technologies and concepts are being investigated for possible implementation on the facility. In this report we consider a free-electron laser seeded by a Higher Harmonic Generation (HHG) source in which a high power (and consequently relatively low repetition rate) laser pulse is injected into a chamber of inert gas. Through a process of ionisation and recombination coherent higher harmonics of the laser are emitted from the gas and can be injected into an FEL system as a seed field. Further harmonic upconversion can be done within the FEL system to enable temporally coherent FEL output at wavelengths much shorter than, and pulse energies orders of magnitude higher than, the HHG source emission. The harmonic conversion within the FEL works in the following way. The seed field induces an energy modulation within the electron bunch at the start of the modulator. This energy modulation grows within the modulator due to the FEL interaction and starts to convert into a density modulation, or bunching, at the seed wavelength. However, this bunching also has components at higher harmonics which retain the longitudinal coherence of the initial seed. The beam passes through a magnetic chicane, which shears the longitudinal phase space to maximise the bunching at the required harmonic, then a further undulator which is tuned to this harmonic. If this second undulator is short it acts as a further modulator, and because the beam is pre-bunched at the modulator resonance there is a strong coherent burst of radiation which acts to modulate the electron beam energy in much the same way the input laser seed field acted in the first modulator. This second modulator is followed by a second bunching chicane and then a final long radiator tuned to a yet higher harmonic of the laser seed - the final output wavelength. Alternatively, the second undulator can be the radiator itself, in which case only one harmonic conversion from seed wavelength to final output is necessary. We initially consider the case of a 400kW peak power HHG seed source at wavelength 12nm (currently considered the cutoff wavelength for sufficient seed power to dominate shot noise in the electron beam) which is converted in either one or two stages or harmonic conversion to FEL emission at 1nm. We then consider the implications of a factor of ten reduction in seed power to 40kW.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Accelerator& Fusion Research Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1004162
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-4157E; TRN: US1100940
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
R&D for a Soft X-Ray Free Electron Laser Facility
Parameter analysis for a high-gain harmonic generation FEL using a recently developed 3D polychromatic code.