No Arabic abstract
We describe a new method to produce intensity stable, highly coherent, narrow-band x-ray pulses in self-seeded free electron (FEL) lasers. The approach uses an ultra-short electron beam to generate a single spike FEL pulse with a wide coherent bandwidth. The self-seeding monochromator then notches out a narrow spectral region of this pulse to be amplified by a long portion of electron beam to full saturation. In contrast to typical self-seeding where monochromatization of noisy SASE pulses leads to either large intensity fluctuations or multiple frequencies, we show that this method produces a stable, coherent FEL output pulse with statistical properties similar to a fully coherent optical laser.
We briefly compare in numerical simulations the relativistic ionization front and electron bunch seeding of the self-modulation of a relativistic proton bunch in plasma. When parameters are such that initial wakefields are equal with the two seeding methods, the evolution of the maximum longitudinal wakefields along the plasma are similar. We also propose a possible seeding/injection scheme using a single plasma that we will study in upcoming simulations works.
The AWAKE experiment relies on the self-modulation instability of a long proton bunch to effectively drive wakefields and accelerate an electron bunch to GeV-level energies. During the first experimental run (2016-2018) the instability was made phase reproducible by means of a seeding process: a short laser pulse co-propagates within the proton bunch in a rubidium vapor. Thus, the fast creation of plasma and the onset of beam-plasma interaction within the bunch drives seed wakefields. However, this seeding method leaves the front of the bunch not modulated. The bunch front could self-modulate in a second, preformed plasma and drive wakefields that would interfere with those driven by the (already self-modulated) back of the bunch and with the acceleration process. We present studies of the seeded the self-modulation (SSM) of a long proton bunch using a short electron bunch. The short seed bunch is placed ahead of the proton bunch leading to self-modulation of the entire bunch. Numerical simulations show that this method have other advantages when compared to the ionization front method. We discuss the requirements for the electron bunch parameters (charge, emittance, transverse size at the focal point, length), to effectively seed the self-modulation process. We also present preliminary experimental studies on the electron bunch seed wakefields generation.
In this paper, a simple method is proposed to extend the photon energy range of a soft x-ray self-seeding free-electron laser (FEL). A normal monochromator is first applied to purify the FEL spectrum and provide a coherent seeding signal. This coherent signal then interacts with the electron beam in the following reverse tapered undulator section to generate strong coherent microbunchings while maintain the good quality of the electron beam. After that, the pre-bunched electron beam is sent into the third undulator section which resonates at a target high harmonic of the seed to amplify the coherent radiation at shorter wavelength. Three dimensional simulations have been performed and the results demonstrate that the photon energy gap between 1.5 keV and 4.5 keV of the self-seeding scheme can be fully covered and 100 GW-level peak power can be achieved by using the proposed technique.
Recent studies of the performance of radio-frequency (RF) copper cavities operated at cryogenic temperatures have shown a dramatic increase in the maximum achievable surface electric field. We propose to exploit this development to enable a new generation of photoinjectors operated at cryogenic temperatures that may attain, through enhancement of the launch field at the photocathode, a significant increase in five-dimensional electron beam brightness. We present detailed studies of the beam dynamics associated with such a system, by examining an S-band photoinjector operated at 250 MV/m peak electric field that reaches normalized emittances in the 40 nm-rad range at charges (100-200 pC) suitable for use in a hard X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) scenario based on the LCLS. In this case, we show by start-to-end simulations that the properties of this source may give rise to high efficiency operation of an XFEL, and permit extension of the photon energy reach by an order of magnitude, to over 80 keV. The brightness needed for such XFELs is achieved through low source emittances in tandem with high current after compression. In the XFEL examples analyzed, the emittances during final compression are preserved using micro-bunching techniques. Extreme low emittance scenarios obtained at pC charge, appropriate for significantly extending temporal resolution limits of ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy experiments, are also reviewed. While the increase in brightness in a cryogenic photoinjector is mainly due to the augmentation of the emission current density via field enhancement, further possible increases in performance arising from lowering the intrinsic cathode emittance in cryogenic operation are also analyzed. Issues in experimental implementation, including cavity optimization for lowering cryogenic thermal dissipation, external coupling, and cryo-cooler system are discussed.
Recent investigations of RF copper structures operated at cryogenic temperatures performed by a SLAC-UCLA collaboration have shown a dramatic increase in the maximum surface electric field, to 500 MV/m. We examine use of these fields to enable very high field cryogenic photoinjectors that can attain over an order of magnitude increase in peak electron beam brightness. We present beam dynamics studies relevant to X-ray FEL injectors, using start-to-end simulations that show the high brightness and low emittance of this source enables operation of a compact FEL reaching a photon energy of 80 keV. The preservation of beam brightness in compression, exploiting micro-bunching techniques is discussed. While the gain in brightness at high field is due to increase of the emission current density, further increases in brightness due to lowering of the intrinsic cathode emittance in cryogenic operation are also enabled. While the original proposal for this type of cryogenic, ultra-high field photoinjector has emphasized S-band designs, there are numerous potential advantages that may be conferred by operation in C-band. We examine issues related to experimental implementation in C-band, and expected performance of this type of device in a future hard X-ray FEL such as MaRIE.