Tests of a grazing-incidence ring resonator free-electron laser

Journal Article · Sun Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/3.104140· OSTI ID:5708918

Dowell, D H; Laucks, M L; Lowrey, A R; Adamski, J L; Pistoresi, D J; Shoffstall, D R ^[1]; Bentz, M P; Burns, R H; Guha, J; Sun, K; Tomita, W ^[2]; Lumpkin, A H; Bender, S; Byrd, D; Tokar, R L ^[3]

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1. Boeing Aerospace and Electronics, Seattle, WA (US)
2. Rockwell International Corp., Canoga Park, CA (United States). Rocketdyne Div.
3. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

This paper reports on the Boeing free-electron laser (FEL) optical cavity that has been changed from a simple concentric cavity using two spherical mirrors to a larger grazing-incidence ring resonator. The new resonator consists of two mirror telescopes located at each end of the wiggler with a round-trip path length of approximately 133 m. Each telescope is a grazing-incidence hyperboloid followed by a normal-incidence paraboloid. Initial tests showed that poorly positioned ring focus and unreliable pointing alignment resulted in reduced and structured FEL output. (First lasing operation occurred on March 23 and 24, 1990.) Later efforts concentrated on improving the resonator alignment techniques and lowering the single-pass losses. FEL performance and reliability have significantly improved due to better ring alignment. The alignment procedure and recent lasing results are described. The effect the electron beam has on lasing is also discussed. Measurements are presented showing how FEL temporal output and wavelength are sensitive to electron beam energy variations.

• OSTI ID: 5708918
• Journal Information: IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Vol. 27:12; ISSN 0018-9197
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
Ta
FREE ELECTRON LASERS
LASER CAVITIES
PERFORMANCE TESTING
RELIABILITY
DESIGN
LASER MIRRORS
ALIGNMENT
BEAM FOCUSING MAGNETS
CAVITY RESONATORS
ELECTRON BEAMS
GRAZING INCIDENCE TOMOGRAPHY
MEASURING METHODS
OPTICAL SYSTEMS
STIMULATED EMISSION
WIGGLER MAGNETS
BEAMS
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTROMAGNETS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EMISSION
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EQUIPMENT
LASERS
LEPTON BEAMS
MAGNETS
MIRRORS
PARTICLE BEAMS
RESONATORS
TESTING
TOMOGRAPHY
426002* - Engineering- Lasers & Masers- (1990-)
440600 - Optical Instrumentation- (1990-)
661220 - Particle Beam Production & Handling
Targets- (1992-)