Researchers demonstrate the FERMI free-electron laser operating in the high-gain harmonic generation regime, allowing high stability, transverse and longitudinal coherence and polarization control.

Highly coherent and stable pulses from the FERMI seeded free-electron laser in the extreme ultraviolet

This self-contained, comprehensive book describes the fundamental properties of soft x-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and discusses their applications in a wide variety of fields, including EUV lithography for semiconductor chip manufacture and soft x-ray biomicroscopy. The author begins by presenting the relevant basic principles such as radiation and scattering, wave propagation, diffraction, and coherence. He then goes on to examine a broad range of phenomena and applications. The topics covered include EUV lithography, biomicroscopy, spectromicroscopy, EUV astronomy, synchrotron radiation, and soft x-ray lasers. He also provides a great deal of useful reference material such as electron binding energies, characteristic emission lines and photo-absorption cross-sections. The book will be of great interest to graduate students and researchers in engineering, physics, chemistry, and the life sciences. It will also appeal to practicing engineers involved in semiconductor fabrication and materials science.

X-Rays and Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation: Principles and Applications

With intensities 108–1010 times greater than other laboratory sources, X-ray free-electron lasers are currently opening up new frontiers across many areas of science. In this Review we describe how these unconventional lasers work, discuss the range of new sources being developed worldwide, and consider how such X-ray sources may develop over the coming years.

X-ray free-electron lasers

High-gain free-electron lasers (FELs) are being developed as extremely bright sources for a next-generation x-ray facility. In this paper, we review the basic theory of the start-up, the exponential growth, and the saturation of the high-gain process, emphasizing the self-amplified spontaneous emission. The radiation characteristics of an x-ray FEL, including its transverse coherence, temporal characteristics, and harmonic content, are discussed. FEL performance in the presence of machine errors and undulator wakefields is examined. Various enhancement schemes through seeding and beam manipulations are summarized.

https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc887443/m2/1/high_res_d/896722.pdf

A review of x-ray free-electron laser theory.

A high-gain harmonic-generation free-electron laser is demonstrated. Our approach uses a laser-seeded free-electron laser to produce amplified, longitudinally coherent, Fourier transform-limited output at a harmonic of the seed laser. A seed carbon dioxide laser at a wavelength of 10.6 micrometers produced saturated, amplified free-electron laser output at the second-harmonic wavelength, 5.3 micrometers. The experiment verifies the theoretical foundation for the technique and prepares the way for the application of this technique in the vacuum ultraviolet region of the spectrum, with the ultimate goal of extending the approach to provide an intense, highly coherent source of hard x-rays.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/289/5481/932.full.pdf

High-gain harmonic-generation free-electron laser.

By use of two-dimensional approximations for the equations that describe a high-gain free-electron laser (FEL) amplifier, and the properties of optical fibers, it is shown that the coherent interaction between the light and the electron beam in a FEL can optically guide the light. In the exponential-gain regime, the FEL performance in the presence of strong diffraction can be simply described by a cubic equation for the complex gain and the dispersion relation for an optical fiber. The phenomenon of optical guiding is illustrated with two-dimensional numerical simulations. The phenomenon has applications to short-wavelength FEL's, to directing of intense light, and to bending of x-rays.

/pdf/optical-guiding-in-a-free-electron-laser-g7gu20i9rw.pdf

Optical guiding in a free-electron laser.

FEL operation at short wavelengths is limited by electron-beam quality, by the availability of mirrors for oscillators and by the availability of input sources for FEL amplifiers. It is possible to use an FEL amplifier as a resonant-frequency tripling device, generating light and strong bunching at the third harmonic of a conventional input source in an initial wiggler section, then using a second wiggler section resonant at the tripled frequency to amplify the short-wavelength light. Neither mirrors nor a short-wavelength input source are required, and some relaxation of the electron-beam quality appears to be possible. We illustrate the scheme with a one-dimensional model and then with NUTMEG simulations of an 80 nm FEL amplifier initiated by a 240 nm input signal, in which an efficiency of the electron-beam power conversion to 80 nm light of nearly 10−4 was obtained.

Generation of XUV light by resonant frequency tripling in a two-wiggler FEL amplifier☆

The coherent interaction between an optical wave and an electron beam in a free electron laser (FEL) is shown to be capable of optically guiding the light. The effect is analyzed using a two-dimensional approximation for the FEL equations, and using the properties of optical fibers. Results of two-dimensional (cylindrically symmetric) numerical simulations are presented, and found to agree reasonably well with the analytically derived criterion for guiding. Under proper conditions, the effect can be large and has important applications to short wavelength FELs and to directing intense light.

Optical guiding in a free electron laser

/pdf/optical-guiding-in-a-free-electron-laser-5gf4np39j6.pdf

FEL operation at short wavelengths is limited by electron-beam quality, by the availability of mirrors for oscillators and by the availability of input sources for FEL amplifiers. It is possible to use an FEL amplifier as a resonant-frequency tripling device, generating light and strong bunching at the third harmonic of a conventional input source in an initial wiggler section, then using a second wiggler section resonant at the tripled frequency to amplify the short-wavelength light. Neither mirrors nor a short-wavelength input source are required, and some relaxation of the electron-beam quality appears to be possible. We illustrate the scheme with a one-dimensional model and then with NUTMEG simulations of an 80 nm FEL amplifier initiated by a 240 nm input signal, in which an efficiency of the electron-beam power conversion to 80 nm light of nearly 10/sup -4/ was obtained.

E.T. Scharlemann

Papers

Optical guiding in a free-electron laser.

Generation of XUV light by resonant frequency tripling in a two-wiggler FEL amplifier☆

Optical guiding in a free electron laser

Optical guiding in a free electron laser

Generation Of XUV Light By Resonant Frequency Tripling In A Two-wiggler FEL Amplifier