Short wavelength FELs using the SLAC linac

Recent technological developments have opened the possibility to construct a device which we call a linac coherent light source (LCLS) (C. Pellegrini et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 331 (1993) 223; H. Winick et al., Proc. IEEE 1993 Particle Accelerator Conf., Washington, DC, May 1993; C. Pellegrini, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 341 (1994) 326; J. Seeman, SPIE Meet. on Electron Beam Sources of High Brightness Radiation, San Diego, CA, July 1993 [1–4]); it would be a fourth-generation light source, with brightness, coherence, and peak power far exceeding other sources. Operating on the principle of the free electron laser (FEL), the LCLS would extend the range of FEL operation to much shorter wavelength than the 240 nm that has so far been reached. We report the results of studies of the use of the SLAC linac to drive an LCLS at wavelengths from about 3 to 100 nm initially and possibly even shorter wavelengths in the future. Lasing would be achieved in a single pass of a low emittance, high peak current, high-energy electron beam through a long undulator. Most present FELs use an optical cavity to build up the intensity of the light to achieve lasing action in a low-gain oscillator configuration. By eliminating the optical cavity, which is difficult to make at short wavelengths, laser action can be extended to shorter wavelengths by self-amplified-spontaneous-emission (SASE), or by harmonic generation from a longer wavelength seed laser. Short wavelength, single pass lasers have been extensively studied at several laboratories and at recent workshops (M. Cornacchia and H. Winick (eds.), SLAC Report 92/02; I. Ben-Zvi and H. Winick (eds.), BNL report 49651 [5,6]). The required low-emittance electron beam can be achieved with recently-developed rf photocathode electron guns (B.E. Carlsten, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 285 (1989) 313; J. Rosenzweig and L. Serafini, Proc. IEEE 1993 Particle Accelerator Conf., Washington, DC, 1993 [7,8]). The peak current is increased by about an order of magnitude by compressing the bunch to a lenght of about 0.2 ps (rms). Techniques for beam transport, acceleration, and compression without emittance dilution have been developed at SLAC as part of the linear-collider project (J. Seeman, Advances of Accelerator Physics and Technologies, ed. H. Schopper (World Scientific, Singapore, 1993 [9]). The undulator length required to saturate the laser varies from about 15 m for a 100 nm FEL to about 60 m at 3 nm. Initial experiments, at wavelengths down to about 50 nm are planned using the 25-m long Paladin undulator now located at LLNL. In a proposed future LCLS R&D facility the short wavelength light pulses are distributed to multiple end stations using grazing-incidence mirrors. About 1014 photons per pulse can be produced at a 120 Hz rate, corresponding to average brightness levels of about 1021 photons/s/mm2/mrad2 within 0.1% BW and peak brightness levels of about 1031 photons/s/mm2/mrad2 within 0.1% BW. Peak power levels are several hundred megawatts to several gigawatts. Electron energies required range from about 500 MeV for the 100 nm FEL to about 7 GeV for 3 nm.