High-gain harmonic-generation free-electron laser seeded by harmonics generated in gas

The injection of a seed in a free-electron laser (FEL) amplifier reduces the saturation length and improves the longitudinal coherence. A cascaded FEL, operating in the high-gain harmonic-generation regime, allows us to extend the beneficial effects of the seed to shorter wavelengths. We report on the first operation of a high-gain harmonic-generation free-electron laser, seeded with harmonics generated in gas. The third harmonics of a Ti:sapphire laser, generated in a gas cell, has been amplified and up-converted to its second harmonic (λ(rad)=133 nm) in a FEL cascaded configuration based on a variable number of modulators and radiators. We studied the transition between coherent harmonic generation and superradiant regime, optimizing the laser performances with respect to the number of modulators and radiators.     

Plasma dynamically induced frequency shifts in high-order harmonic generation in nitrogen

Experiments and theoretical calculations on high-harmonic generation in nitrogen are presented in the regime of laser pulses of a 300-ps duration, where the plasma dynamics following the ionization of the medium plays a decisive role. The experiments are performed with ～4-GW Ti:sapphire laser pulses, giving rise to fully saturated ionization. The shifts between the exact harmonic frequency in the extreme ultraviolet and the integer multiple of the fundamental frequency are caused by the self-phase modulation of the laser pulse due to the time-dependent free-electron density in the plasma generated in the focal zone. Well-calibrated atomic resonances in the extreme ultraviolet measured through absorption in a secondary gas jet are used as frequency markers in the extreme ultraviolet for the accurate determination of the sign and magnitude of the frequency shifts. A theoretical model including both plasma dynamics and harmonic generation from atoms and ions has previously been developed, and successfully applied to explain the frequency red shift observed in xenon [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 123904 (2006)]. The plasma-dynamical model is extended and applied to the results of the harmonic generation in nitrogen, fully explaining the observed harmonic frequency shifts in the 9th and 13th harmonic.     

Energy transfer in constant period free-electron lasers

A simple single particle model of a free-electron laser (FEL) amplifier has been used in a computer simulation to determine the maximum fractional conversion of electron kinetic energy to laser energy. The simulation results can be represented by a single universal curve. A simple scaling relationship for the length of the optimized constant period helix together with the universal curve permit one to predict maximum fractional energy conversion for any set of values of initial electron energy, initial laser intensity, magnetic field amplitude, and magnet period.     

储存环相干谐波自由电子激光器新光学速调管工作状态分析

 合肥国家同步辐射实验室（NSRL）正在开展储存环相干谐波自由电子激光研究，为了在较高电子束能量下进行实验、且具有较高的相干辐射强度，光学速调管从原来的对称结构改造为非对称结构。分析了相干谐波实验中各参数之间的关系，及对相干谐波辐射的影响，并给出了两种工作状态下的最佳工作参数。     

First ultraviolet high-gain harmonic-generation free-electron laser

We report the first experimental results on a high-gain harmonic-generation (HGHG) free-electron laser (FEL) operating in the ultraviolet. An 800 nm seed from a Ti:sapphire laser has been used to produce saturated amplified radiation at the 266 nm third harmonic. The results confirm the predictions for HGHG FEL operation: stable central wavelength, narrow bandwidth, and small pulse-energy fluctuation.     

Real-Time Monitoring of the Energy Deposition under the Tight Focusing of Femtosecond Laser Radiation into a Bulk Transparent Dielectric Based on Third Harmonic Signal

It has been found that the third harmonic generated under the tight focusing of a near-infrared (1.24-μm) femtosecond laser pulse indicates the energy deposition into the bulk transparent dielectric and can be used as a feedback system in the process of microstructuring. A third harmonic signal is sensitive to a change in both the size of a laser-induced microplasma and the free-electron density, which allows the detection of the microplasma with submicron longitudinal sizes. It has been shown that the method based on the third harmonic is universal and can be applied in both single-pulse and two-color microstructuring.     

X-Ray Free-Electron Lasers with Variable Deflection Parameter of Undulators

Russian Physics Journal - The paper deals with X-ray free-electron lasers (FEL) with the variable deflection parameter of undulators with the electron buncher and harmonic amplifier. The analysis...     

Powerful dye laser oscillator-amplifier system for high resolution and coherent pulse spectroscopy

A peak power output of 100 kW in the visible at a linewidth as low as 60 MHz has been generated by using a cw dye laser oscillator followed by three single pass dye amplifier stages (or one double pass stage and one single pass stage), pumped by a single 1 MW nitrogen laser. The very high output power obtained in this laser system may be used to produce coherent ultraviolet pulses by sum or second harmonic generation in non-linear crystals or by third order mixing in atomic vapor.     

Analysis of the uniform magnetic field free-electron laser with scalarized photons in the microwave-spectral region

The recently developed concept of scalarized photons (formally photons of any polarization) is used to analyze the spontaneous and stimulated emission in the uniform magnetic field free-electron laser in the microwave spectral region. In fact, this free-electron laser is the simplest of many other, wiggler and wiggler-free free-electron lasers whose analyses could be done with scalarized photons in the small signal regime and whose physical parameters can be conveniently chosen for radiation to be generated in the microwave spectral region. As to the uniform magnetic field free-electron laser, which is treated here in some detail, with the electron beam energy of up to 10 MeV and the uniform magnetic field of up to 4 Tesla, the radiation (occurring with the fundamental and higher harmonic frequencies) can cover easily a 10 to 10,000 GHz spectral region.     

Coherent light with tunable polarization from single-pass free-electron lasers

Tunable polarization over a wide spectral range is a required feature of light sources employed to investigate the properties of local symmetry in matter. In this Letter, we provide the first experimental characterization of the polarization of the harmonic light produced by a free-electron laser and demonstrate a method to obtain free-electron laser harmonics with tunable polarization. Experimental results are successfully compared with theory. Our findings can be expected to have a deep impact on the design and realization of experiments requiring full control of light polarization.     

自由电子激光理论的经典近似

根据单粒子模型阐述了自由电子激光放大器的工作原理.讨论电子在周期性静磁场中与辐射场的作用,给出较清晰的物理图象.     

Operating the SDUV-FEL with the echo-enabled harmonic generation scheme

Using the recently proposed echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) free-electron laser (FEL) scheme, it is shown that operating the Shanghai deep ultraviolet FEL (SDUV-FEL) with single-stage to higher harmonics is very promising, with higher frequency up-conversion efficiency, higher harmonic selectivity and lower power requirement of the seed laser. The considerations on a proof-of-principle experiment and expected performance in SDUV-FEL are given.     

Generation of Coherent X-ray Harmonic Radiation in a Single-Pass Free-Electron Laser with Phase Shift of Electrons Relative to Photons

Technical Physics - Evolution of bunching and harmonic power is theoretically studied for a single-pass free-electron laser (FEL) in which electrons are periodically phase-shifted relative to...     

Operating the SDUV-FEL with the echo-enabled harmonic generation scheme

Using the recently proposed echo-enabled harmonic generation （EEHG） free-electron laser （FEL） scheme, it is shown that operating the Shanghai deep ultraviolet FEL （SDUV-FEL） with single-stage to higher harmonics is very promising, with higher frequency up-conversion effciency, higher harmonic selectivity and lower power requirement of the seed laser. The considerations on a proof-of-principle experiment and expected performance in SDUV-FEL are given.     

Study of High-Order Harmonic at VUV/XUV

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Self-seeded FEL wavelength extension with high-gain harmonic generation

We study a self-seeded high-gain harmonic generation(HGHG) free-electron laser(FEL) scheme to extend the wavelength of a soft X-ray FEL. This scheme uses a regular self-seeding monochromator to generate a seed laser at the wavelength of 1.52 nm, followed by a HGHG configuration to produce coherent, narrow-bandwidth harmonic radiations at the GW level. The 2nd and 3rd harmonic radiation is investigated with start-to-end simulations.Detailed studies of the FEL performance and shot-to-shot fluctuations are presented.     

Different operation states of soliton pulses in an erbium-doped fibre ring laser

We report on the experimental observation of soliton pulses in an erbium doped fibre ring laser. The passive mode-locking is achieved using the nonlinear polarization rotation technique. By adjusting the pump power and the intracavity polarization controllers, a normal soliton, a stable 8th harmonic mode-locked pulse and a noise-like pulse have been observed in our laser. The experimental results revealed that the noise-like pulse is not suitable for the optical telecommunication, and in order to obtain the stable harmonic mode-locked soliton, a strong unstable CW laser field is necessary to mediate global soliton interaction. The formation mechanism of the harmonic mode-locked pulse has also been analysed.     

Harmonic Generation in Planar Undulators in Single-Pass Free Electron Lasers

Russian Physics Journal - The paper presents a theoretical study of the harmonic power evolution in a single-pass free-electron laser (FEL) and a comparison with some of the experimental results....     

Mode locking in a free-electron laser amplifier

A technique is proposed to generate attosecond pulse trains of radiation from a free-electron laser amplifier. The optics-free technique synthesizes a comb of longitudinal modes by applying a series of spatiotemporal shifts between the copropagating radiation and electron bunch in the free-electron laser. The modes may be phase locked by modulating the electron beam energy at the mode spacing frequency. Three-dimensional simulations demonstrate the generation of a train of 400 as pulses at gigawatt power levels evenly spaced by 2.5 fs at a wavelength of 124 angstroms. In the x-ray at wavelength 1.5 angstroms, trains of 23 as pulses evenly spaced by 150 as and of peak power up to 6 GW are predicted.     

具有可变摆动器的自由电子激光器的一维数值计算

本文介绍了进行具有可变摆动器的自由电子激光器一维数值计算所使用的物理模型和一个激光放大器的具体计算例子。计算了摆动器参数、电子束和激光场之间的能量转换效率、激光强度、电子的相空间分布和能谱。得到的同步振荡周期和激光的饱和值与估计的值相符合。