Electron beam-based sources of ultrashort x-ray pulses.
A review of various methods for generation of ultrashort x-ray pulses using relativistic electron beam from conventional accelerators is presented. Both spontaneous and coherent emission of electrons is considered. The importance of the time-resolved studies of matter at picosecond (ps), femtosecond (fs), and atttosecond (as) time scales using x-rays has been widely recognized including by award of a Nobel Prize in 1999 [Zewa]. Extensive reviews of scientific drivers can be found in [BES1, BES2, BES3, Lawr, Whit]. Several laser-based techniques have been used to generate ultrashort x-ray pulses including laser-driven plasmas [Murn, Alte, Risc, Rose, Zamp], high-order harmonic generation [Schn, Rund, Wang, Arpi], and laser-driven anode sources [Ande]. In addition, ultrafast streak-camera detectors have been applied at synchrotron sources to achieve temporal resolution on the picosecond time scale [Wulf, Lind1]. In this paper, we focus on a different group of techniques that are based on the use of the relativistic electron beam produced in conventional accelerators. In the first part we review several techniques that utilize spontaneous emission of electrons and show how solitary sub-ps x-ray pulses can be obtained at existing storage ring based synchrotron light sources and linacs. In the second part we consider coherent emission of electrons in the free-electron lasers (FELs) and review several techniques for a generation of solitary sub-fs x-ray pulses. Remarkably, the x-ray pulses that can be obtained with the FELs are not only significantly shorter than the ones considered in Part 1, but also carry more photons per pulse by many orders of magnitude.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 990520
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/APS/LS-320; TRN: US1007375
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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