Date: October 13, 2009 -
Time: 2:00 pm -

Accelerator Seminar

Title: Studies of single pass seeded FELs
Speaker: Marie Labat
From: Frascati
When: Tuesday, October 13 at 2:00 P.M.
Where: Orange Room

Free electron lasers, based on the amplification of an optical wave in relativistic electrons, aim at the delivery of powerful ultrashort X-ray laser pulses. The seed of these amplifiers can be either the spontaneous emission of the electrons or an external laser source. Because of the absence of suitable sources, the SASE configuration appears as the only mean to reach the X-ray region. Nevertheless, the recent results obtained in high harmonic generation in gas targets have extended the range of possible external seeding, and therefore launched a renewed interest for the seeded FEL configurations.

The SPARC FEL is a unique facility allowing operation in both SASE and seeded configurations. A general presentation of the machine is given, including a brief summary on the ongoing accelerator beam physics experiments. We will then provide with the first results of the SASE FEL, in commissioning since March 2009. Two sources are to be used at SPARC for seeding, based on harmonic generation in crystal and gas. We will detail the experimental setup and review the associated original foreseen experiments. Indeed, the unique modularity of the SPARC undulator (six independent sections), should allow to demonstrate new efficient up-frequency conversion schemes.