Review of fully coherent free-electron lasers

Generation of intense, fully coherent radiation with wide spectral coverage has been a long-standing challenge for laser technologies. Several techniques have been developed in recent years to extend the spectral coverage in optical physics, but none of them hold the potential to produce X-ray laser pulses with very high-peak power. Urgent demands for intense X-ray light sources have prompted the development of free-electron lasers(FELs), which have been proved to be very useful tools in many scientific areas. In this paper, we give an overview of the basic principle of FELs, techniques for realizing fully coherent FELs, and the development of fully coherent FEL facilities in China.

Generation of double pulses at the Shanghai soft X-ray free electron laser facility

In this article, we present the promise of a new method generating double electron pulses in picosecondscale pulse length and tunable interpulse spacing at several picoseconds. This has witnessed an impressive potential of application in pump–probe techniques, two-color X-ray free electron laser, high-gradient witness bunch acceleration in a plasma, etc. Three-dimensional simulations are carried out to analyze the dynamic of the electron beam in a linear accelerator. Comparisons are made between the new method and existing ways.

Smith-Purcell free electron laser based on the semi-elliptical resonator

A novel Smith-Purcell （S-P） free electron laser composed of an electron gun, a semi-elliptical resonator, a metallic reflecting grating and a collector, is presented for the first time. This paper studies the characteristics of this device by theoretical analysis and particle-in-cell simulation method. Results indicate that tunable coherent S-P radiation with a high output peak power at millimeter wavelengths can be generated by adjusting the length of the grating period, or adjusting the voltage of the electron beam. The present scheme has the following advantages： the semi-elliptical resonator can reflect all radiation with the emission angle {？ and random azimuthal angles, back onto the electron beam with same-phase and causes the electrons to be modulated, so the output power and efficiency are improved.

Effect of normalized plasma frequency on electron phase-space orbits in a free-electron laser

Irregular phase-space orbits of the electrons are harmful to the electron-beam transport quality and hence deteriorate the performance of a free-electron laser （FEL）. In previous literature, it was demonstrated that the irregularity of the electron phase-space orbits could be caused in several ways, such as varying the wiggler amplitude and inducing sidebands. Based on a Hamiltonian model with a set of self-consistent differential equations, it is shown in this paper that the electron- beam normalized plasma frequency functions not only couple the electron motion with the FEL wave, which results in the evolution of the FEL wave field and a possible power saturation at a large beam current, but also cause the irregularity of the electron phase-space orbits when the normalized plasma frequency has a sufficiently large value, even if the initial energy of the electron is equal to the synchronous energy or the FEL wave does not reach power saturation.

First commissioning results of the coherent scattering and imaging endstation at the Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser facility

The Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser(SXFEL)user facility project started in 2016 and is expected to be open to users by 2022.It aims to deliver ultra-intense coherent femtosecond X-ray pulses to five endstations covering a range of 100–620 eV for ultrafast X-ray science.Two undulator lines are designed and constructed,based on different lasing modes:self-amplified spontaneous emission and echo-enabled harmonic generation.The coherent scattering and imaging(CSI)endstation is the first of five endstations to be commissioned online.It focuses on high-resolution single-shot imaging and the study of ultrafast dynamic processes using coherent forward scattering techniques.Both the single-shot holograms and coherent diffraction patterns were recorded and reconstructed for nanoscale imaging,indicating the excellent coherence and high peak power of the SXFEL and the possibility of‘‘diffraction before destruction’’experiments at the CSI endstation.In this study,we report the first commissioning results of the CSI endstation.

Effects of self-fields on dispersion relation and growth rate in two-stream electromagnetically pumped free electron laser with axial guide magnetic field

A theory for a two-stream free-electron laser （FEL） with an electromagnetic wiggler （EMW） and axial guide magnetic field is developed. In the analysis, the effects of self-fields are taken into account. The growth rate is derived. The characteristics of the growth rate are studied numerically. The dependence of the normalized wave number, which corresponds to the maximum growth rate, on the cyclotron frequency is presented. The comparisons between the normalized maximum growth rate and its corresponding wave number normalized by employing the axial magnetic field, for the cases with and without self-fields in the two-stream FEL are studied numerically.

Gain calculation of a free-electron laser operating with a non-uniform ion-channel guide

Amplification of an electromagnetic wave by a free electron laser （FEL） with a helical wiggler and an ion channel with a periodically varying ion density is examined. The relativistic equation of motion for a single electron in the combined wiggler and the periodic ionbchannel fields is solved and the classes of possible trajectories in this configuration are discussed. The gain equation for the FEL in the low-gain-per-pass lirnit is obtained by adding the effect of the periodic ion channel. Numerical calculation is employed to analyse the gain induced by the effects of the non-uniform ion density. The variation of gain with ion-channel density is demonstrated. It is shown that there is a gain enhancement for group I orbits in the presence of a non-uniform ion-channel but not in a uniform one. It is also shown that periodic ion-channel guiding is used to reach the maximum peak gain in a low ion-channel frequency （low ion density）.

Feasibility study on optical vortex generation at Shanghai deep ultraviolet free-electron laser

Coherent light with orbital angular momentum(OAM)is of great interest.Recently,OAM light generation by coupling a relativistic electron beam with a Gaussian mode laser pulse at the high harmonics of a helical undulator has been demonstrated experimentally.In this paper,the possibility of delivering coherent OAM light at the 3^(rd)harmonic of the Gaussian mode seed laser is discussed for the Shanghai deep ultraviolet freeelectron laser(SDUV-FEL).Considerations are given on the experiment setup,the expected performance and the possible measurement method.

Efficiency enhancement of a two-beam free-electron laser using a nonlinearly tapered wiggler

A nonlinear and non-averaged model of a two-beam free-electron laser （FEL） wiggler that is tapered nonlinearly in the absence of slippage is presented. The two beams are assumed to have different energies, and the fundamental resonance of the higher energy beam is at the third harmonic of the lower energy beam. By using Maxwell＇s equations and the full Lorentz force equation of motion for the electron beams, coupled differential equations are derived and solved numerically by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The amplitude of the wiggler field is assumed to decrease nonlinearly when the saturation of the third harmonic occurs. By simulation, the optimum starting point of the tapering and the slopes for reducing the wiggler amplitude are found. This technique can be applied to substantially improve the efficiency of the two-beam FEL in the XUV and X-ray regions. The effect of tapering on the dynamical stability of the fast electron beam is also studied.

Three-dimensional simulation of long-wavelength free-electron lasers with helical wiggler and ion-channel guiding

A three-dimensional simulation of a steady-state amplifier model of a long-wavelength free-electron laser （FEL） with realizable helical wiggler and ion-channel guiding is presented. The set of coupled nonlinear differential equations for electron orbits and fields of TE 11 mode in a cylindrical waveguide are solved numerically by the Runge–Kutta algorithm with averages calculated by the Gaussian quadrature technique. Self-fields and space-charge effects are neglected, and the electron beam is assumed to be cold and slippage is ignored. The parameters correspond to the Compton regime. Evolution of the radiation power and growth rate along the wiggler is studied. Ion-channel density is chosen to obtain optimum efficiency. Simulations are preformed for the FEL operating in the neighborhood of 35 GHz and 16.5 GHz for the electron beam energies of 250 keV and 400 keV, respectively. The result of the saturated efficiency was found to be in good agreement with the simple estimation based on the phase-trapping model.

ANGULAR SPECTRUM PROPERTY OF SPONTANEOUS EMISSION IN A TWO-DIMENSIONAL UNDULATOR FREE-ELECTRON LASER

The angular spectrum of spontaneous emission in a two-dimensional undulator free-electron laser is analyzed theoretically. Numerical calculation shows that the 3-th harmonic spontaneous emission power density can be greatly enhanced by using a two-dimensional undulator, for which l=s, so the harmonic number can be selected by selecting l. Therefore, the higher harmonic operation of a free-electron laser can be realized selectively.

The effects of self-fields on the electron trajectory and gain in a two-stream electromagnetically pumped free-electron laser with axial guiding field

A theory of a two-stream flee-electron laser in a combined electromagnetic wiggler （EMW） is developed, in which we use an axial-guide magnetic field and take into account the effects of the self-fields. The electron trajectories and the small signal gain are derived. The stability of the trajectories, the characteristics of the linear-gain, and the normalised maximum gain are studied numerically. The results show that there are nine stable groups of orbits in the presence of self-fields instead of seven groups reported in the absence of the self-field. It is also shown that the normalised gains of four groups of the orbits are decreasing and those for the rest of them are increasing with growing J20. Furthermore, it is found that the two-stream laser with seff-field enhances the maximum gain in comparison with the single stream case.

Effects of self-fields on electron trajectory and gain in two-stream electromagnetically pumped free-electron laser with ion channel guiding

A theory for the two-stream free-electron laser with an electromagnetic wiggler （EMW） and an ion channel guiding is developed. In the analysis, the effects of self-fields have been taken into account. The electron trajectories and the small signal gain are derived. The stability of the trajectories, the characteristics of the linear gain and the normalized maximum gain are studied numerically. The dependence of the normalized frequency ω corresponding to the maximum gain on the ion-channel frequency is presented. The results show that there are seven groups of orbits in the presence of the self-fields, which are similar to those reported in the absence of the self-fields. It is also shown that the normalized gains of 2 groups decrease while the rest increase with the increasing normalized ion-channel frequency. Furthermore, it is found that the two-stream instability and the self-field lead to a decrease in the maximum gain except for group 4.

A high power MOPA free-electron laser with narrowline-width

A new kind of MOPA configuration to obtain a high power free-electron laser with very narrow line-width that can satisfy the requirements of some applications such as the laser isotope separation has been proposed, which is investigated by onedimension simulations.

The effects of self-fields on the electron trajectory in a two-stream free electron laser with a helical wiggler and an axial guiding magnetic field

A theory for the two-stream free-electron laser（TSFEL） with a helical wiggler and an axial guide magnetic field is developed.In the analysis,the effects of self-fields are taken into account.An analysis of the two-stream steady-state electron trajectories is given by solving the equation of motion.Numerical calculations show that there are seven groups of orbits in the presence of self-fields instead of two groups reported in the absence of self-fields.The stability of the trajectories is studied numerically.

Dispersion relation and growth rate for a corrugated channel free-electron laser with a helical wiggler pump

The effects of corrugated ion channels on electron trajectories and spatial growth rate for a free-electron laser with a one-dimensional helical wiggler have been investigated. Analysis of the steady-state electron trajectories is performed by solving the equations of motion. Our results show that the presence of a corrugated channel shifts the resonance frequency to smaller values of ion channel frequency. The sixth-order dispersion equation describing the coupling between the electrostatic beam mode and the electromagnetic mode has also been derived. The dispersion relation characteristic is analyzed in detail by numerical solution. Results show that the growth rate of instability in the presence of corrugated ion channels can be greatly enhanced relative to the case of an uniform ion channel.

Synchrotron-Infrared Microscopy Analysis of Amyloid Fibrils Irradiated by Mid-Infrared Free-Electron Laser

Amyloid fibrils are widely recognized as a cause of serious amyloidosis such as Alzheimer’s disease. Although dissociation of amyloid fibril aggregates is expected to lead to a decrease in the toxicity of the fibrils in cells, the fibril structure is robust under physiological conditions. We have irradiated amyloid fibrils with a free-electron laser (FEL) tuned to mid-infrared frequencies to induce dissociation of the aggregates into monomer forms. We have previously succeeded in dissociating fibril structures of a short peptide of the thyroid hormone by tuning the oscillation frequency to the amide I band, but the detailed structural changes of the peptide have not yet been determined at a high spatial resolution. Synchrotron-radiation infrared microscopy (SR-IRM) is a powerful tool for in situ analysis of minute structural changes of various materials, and in this study, the feasibility of SR-IRM for analyzing the microscopic conformational changes of amyloid fibrils after FEL irradiation was investigated. Reflection spectra of the amyloid fibril surface showed that the amide I peaks shifted to higher wave numbers after the FEL irradiation, indicating that the initial β-sheet-rich structure transformed into a mixture of non-ordered and turn-like peptide conformations. This result demonstrates that conformational changes of the fibril structure after the FEL irradiation can be observed at a high spatial resolution using SR-IRM analysis and the FEL irradiation system can be useful for dissociation of amyloid aggregates.

Effects of self-fields on gain in two-stream free electron laser with helical wiggler and an axial guiding magnetic field

The theory for the two-stream free electron laser （FEL） consisting of a relativistic electron beam transporting along the axis of a helical wiggler in the presence of an axial guiding magnetic field is proposed and investigated. In the analysis, the effects of self-fields are taken into account. The electron trajectories and the small signal gain are derived. The characteristics of the linear-gain and the normalized maximum gain are studied numerically. The results show that there are seven stable groups of orbits in the presence of self-fields instead of two groups reported in the absence of the self-fields. It is also shown that the normalized gains of three groups decrease while the rest increase with the increasing of normalized cyclotron frequency g20. Furthermore, it is found that the two-stream instability and the self-field lead to a decrease in the maximum gain except for group 3. The results show that the normalized maximum gain is enhanced in comparison with that of the single stream.

A Review Study on Amplification of X-Ray Free Electron Laser Pulse in Plasma

In view of X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) intensity prospects, we reviewed the past and recent work in view of amplification of powerful XFEL laser pulse to achieve intensity in the regime of high field science. We report here some of the relevant work investigated in this field and predicted further scalings and possibilities for XFEL pulse amplification.

Effects of self-fields on electron trajectory and gain in planar wiggler free-electron lasers with two-stream and ion-channel guiding

The effects of self-fields on electron trajectories and gain in planar wiggler free-electron lasers with two-stream and ion-channel guiding are investigated. An analysis of the two-stream quasi-steady-state electron trajectories is given by solving the equation of motion in the presence of ion-channel guiding and the planar wiggler. The electron trajectories and the gain are derived. The stability of the trajectories, the characteristics of the linear gain, and the normalized maximum gain are studied numerically. The numerical calculations show that there are eight group trajectories rather than the two groups reported in the absence of the self-fields. It is also shown that the normalized gain group seven （G7） decreases while the rest increases with the increase in normalized ion-channel frequency. The two-stream instability and the self-field lead to a decrease in the maximum gain, except for G7.