Author
Thomas Lippuner
Bio: Thomas Lippuner is an academic researcher from Paul Scherrer Institute. The author has contributed to research in topics: Free-electron laser & Undulator. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 5 publications receiving 329 citations.
Topics: Free-electron laser, Undulator, Jitter, Beamline, Booster (rocketry)
Papers
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TL;DR: The SwissFEL X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facility as discussed by the authors started construction at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen, Switzerland) in 2013 and will be ready to accept its first users in 2018 on the Aramis hard Xray branch.
Abstract: The SwissFEL X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facility started construction at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen, Switzerland) in 2013 and will be ready to accept its first users in 2018 on the Aramis hard X-ray branch. In the following sections we will summarize the various aspects of the project, including the design of the soft and hard X-ray branches of the accelerator, the results of SwissFEL performance simulations, details of the photon beamlines and experimental stations, and our first commissioning results.
295 citations
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TL;DR: An overview is given of the SwissFEL soft X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) beamline, called Athos, and its numerous operation modes, and several key hardware components, which enable these modes.
Abstract: The SwissFEL soft X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) beamline Athos will be ready for user operation in 2021. Its design includes a novel layout of alternating magnetic chicanes and short undulator segments. Together with the APPLE X architecture of undulators, the Athos branch can be operated in different modes producing FEL beams with unique characteristics ranging from attosecond pulse length to high-power modes. Further space has been reserved for upgrades including modulators and an external seeding laser for better timing control. All of these schemes rely on state-of-the-art technologies described in this overview. The optical transport line distributing the FEL beam to the experimental stations was designed with the whole range of beam parameters in mind. Currently two experimental stations, one for condensed matter and quantum materials research and a second one for atomic, molecular and optical physics, chemical sciences and ultrafast single-particle imaging, are being laid out such that they can profit from the unique soft X-ray pulses produced in the Athos branch in an optimal way.
53 citations
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TL;DR: The SwissFEL Injector Test Facility operated at the Paul Scherrer Institute between 2010 and 2014, serving as a pilot plant and testbed for the development and realization of Swiss FEL, the X-ray Free-Electron Laser facility under construction at the same institute as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The SwissFEL Injector Test Facility operated at the Paul Scherrer Institute between 2010 and 2014, serving as a pilot plant and testbed for the development and realization of SwissFEL, the X-ray Free-Electron Laser facility under construction at the same institute. The test facility consisted of a laser-driven rf electron gun followed by an S-band booster linac, a magnetic bunch compression chicane and a diagnostic section including a transverse deflecting rf cavity. It delivered electron bunches of up to 200 pC charge and up to 250 MeV beam energy at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. The measurements performed at the test facility not only demonstrated the beam parameters required to drive the first stage of an FEL facility, but also led to significant advances in instrumentation technologies, beam characterization methods and the generation, transport and compression of ultra-low-emittance beams. We give a comprehensive overview of the commissioning experience of the principal subsystems and the beam physics measurements performed during the operation of the test facility, including the results of the test of an in-vacuum undulator prototype generating radiation in the vacuum ultraviolet and optical range.
51 citations
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TL;DR: The SwissFEL Injector Test Facility operated at the Paul Scherrer Institute between 2010 and 2014, serving as a pilot plant and test bed for the development and realization of Swiss FEL, the x-ray Free-Electron Laser facility under construction at the same institute as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The SwissFEL Injector Test Facility operated at the Paul Scherrer Institute between 2010 and 2014, serving as a pilot plant and test bed for the development and realization of SwissFEL, the x-ray Free-Electron Laser facility under construction at the same institute. The test facility consisted of a laser-driven rf electron gun followed by an S-band booster linac, a magnetic bunch compression chicane and a diagnostic section including a transverse deflecting rf cavity. It delivered electron bunches of up to 200 pC charge and up to 250 MeV beam energy at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. The measurements performed at the test facility not only demonstrated the beam parameters required to drive the first stage of an FEL facility, but also led to significant advances in instrumentation technologies, beam characterization methods and the generation, transport and compression of ultralow-emittance beams. We give a comprehensive overview of the commissioning experience of the principal subsystems and the beam physics measurements performed during the operation of the test facility, including the results of the test of an in-vacuum undulator prototype generating radiation in the vacuum ultraviolet and optical range.
43 citations
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TL;DR: The SwissFEL X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facility as discussed by the authors started construction at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen, Switzerland) in 2013 and will be ready to accept its first users in 2018 on the Aramis hard Xray branch.
Abstract: The SwissFEL X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facility started construction at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen, Switzerland) in 2013 and will be ready to accept its first users in 2018 on the Aramis hard X-ray branch. In the following sections we will summarize the various aspects of the project, including the design of the soft and hard X-ray branches of the accelerator, the results of SwissFEL performance simulations, details of the photon beamlines and experimental stations, and our first commissioning results.
295 citations
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Coherent, Inc.1, University of Bern2, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory3, University of Hamburg4, University of Kassel5, Technische Universität München6, European XFEL7, University of Gothenburg8, University of Colorado Boulder9, University of the Basque Country10, Ikerbasque11, Donostia International Physics Center12, Moscow State University13, Max Planck Society14, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich15
TL;DR: In this article, the time-energy information of ultrashort X-ray free-electron laser pulses generated by the Linac Coherent Light Source is measured with attosecond resolution via angular streaking of neon 1s photoelectrons.
Abstract: The time–energy information of ultrashort X-ray free-electron laser pulses generated by the Linac Coherent Light Source is measured with attosecond resolution via angular streaking of neon 1s photoelectrons. The X-ray pulses promote electrons from the neon core level into an ionization continuum, where they are dressed with the electric field of a circularly polarized infrared laser. This induces characteristic modulations of the resulting photoelectron energy and angular distribution. From these modulations we recover the single-shot attosecond intensity structure and chirp of arbitrary X-ray pulses based on self-amplified spontaneous emission, which have eluded direct measurement so far. We characterize individual attosecond pulses, including their instantaneous frequency, and identify double pulses with well-defined delays and spectral properties, thus paving the way for X-ray pump/X-ray probe attosecond free-electron laser science.
144 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the first lasing results of SwissFEL, a hard X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) that recently came into operation at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, were presented.
Abstract: We present the first lasing results of SwissFEL, a hard X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) that recently came into operation at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. SwissFEL is a very stable, compact and cost-effective X-ray FEL facility driven by a low-energy and ultra-low-emittance electron beam travelling through short-period undulators. It delivers stable hard X-ray FEL radiation at 1-A wavelength with pulse energies of more than 500 μJ, pulse durations of ~30 fs (root mean square) and spectral bandwidth below the per-mil level. Using special configurations, we have produced pulses shorter than 1 fs and, in a different set-up, broadband radiation with an unprecedented bandwidth of ~2%. The extremely small emittance demonstrated at SwissFEL paves the way for even more compact and affordable hard X-ray FELs, potentially boosting the number of facilities worldwide and thereby expanding the population of the scientific community that has access to X-ray FEL radiation. The first lasing results at SwissFEL, an X-ray free-electron laser, are presented, highlighting the facility’s unique capabilities. A general comparison to other major facilities is also provided.
118 citations
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TL;DR: Crystallographic ‘snapshots’ taken at intervals of femtoseconds to milliseconds after activation show how a light-activated sodium pump carries sodium ions across the cell membrane and provide direct molecular insight into the dynamics of active cation transport across biological membranes.
Abstract: Light-driven sodium pumps actively transport small cations across cellular membranes1. These pumps are used by microorganisms to convert light into membrane potential and have become useful optogenetic tools with applications in neuroscience. Although the resting state structures of the prototypical sodium pump Krokinobacter eikastus rhodopsin 2 (KR2) have been solved2,3, it is unclear how structural alterations over time allow sodium to be translocated against a concentration gradient. Here, using the Swiss X-ray Free Electron Laser4, we have collected serial crystallographic data at ten pump-probe delays from femtoseconds to milliseconds. High-resolution structural snapshots throughout the KR2 photocycle show how retinal isomerization is completed on the femtosecond timescale and changes the local structure of the binding pocket in the early nanoseconds. Subsequent rearrangements and deprotonation of the retinal Schiff base open an electrostatic gate in microseconds. Structural and spectroscopic data, in combination with quantum chemical calculations, indicate that a sodium ion binds transiently close to the retinal within one millisecond. In the last structural intermediate, at 20 milliseconds after activation, we identified a potential second sodium-binding site close to the extracellular exit. These results provide direct molecular insight into the dynamics of active cation transport across biological membranes.
94 citations
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TL;DR: The Free-Electron Laser at DESY (FLASH) as discussed by the authors was the first FEL in the XUV/soft X-ray spectral range, and was for almost 5 years the only short wavelength FEL facility worldwide.
93 citations