Femtosecond X-ray free-electron lasers: A new tool for studying nanocrystals and single macromolecules

A brief overview of the design of femtosecond X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL), characteristics of the emitted X-ray pulses, and potentialities of XFEL are presented. A concise analysis of the problems in modeling X-ray scattering patterns produced by ultraintense radiation sources is given.     

超快X射线自由电子激光研究进展北大核心CSCD

现代光源的发展不断推动着人们从更深层次上理解物质的基本结构和动力学行为。X射线自由电子激光作为最先进的光源,其超高的峰值功率、超短的脉冲长度和优良的相干性,为人们以原子级时空分辨率探测和操控物质中的超快过程提供了可能。目前全世界已有多个X射线自由电子激光装置建成并投入使用,在原子分子物理、化学、生命科学、材料科学等各学科应用中都显示出了重要价值。同时大量的研究工作也集中于继续提高X射线自由电子激光的性能,包括把脉冲持续时间从fs量级进一步缩短至as量级,这将为超快科学的发展带来新突破。以超快脉冲产生为主线,综述了近年来超快X射线自由电子激光产生方案的研究进展,从产生原理、方案特性、最新成果等方面介绍了各类产生方案,总结对比了各方案的优缺点,最后对超快X射线自由电子激光的未来发展方向进行了展望。     

Opportunities for resonant elastic X-ray scattering at X-ray free-electron lasers

X-ray Free-Electron Lasers (FELs) are beginning to deliver a revolution in X-ray experiments, thanks to their ultra-bright (peak brightness exceeding 10³³ photons/s/mm²/mrad²/0.1%BW), ultrashort (down to a few fs), spatially coherent X-ray pulses. Presently operational facilities cover wide spectral ranges, from the VUV and soft X-ray wavelengths of FLASH in Hamburg (down to 4.2 nm), to the hard X-rays delivered by the LCLS in Stanford (wavelengths of 0.15 nm or shorter). The basic properties of the new sources are briefly reviewed, and the impact on resonant scattering experiments is discussed. The perspective of investigating ultrafast magnetism, and, more generally, the time-dependent response of strongly correlated electron systems, in a pump-and-probe mode at the L edges of 3d transition metals, would be very attractive. In the hard X-ray range, the very recent proposal of self-seeded X-ray FELs, with 10⁻⁵ intrinsic bandwidth, tunable wavelength, 100 fs pulses and number of photons per pulse of order 10¹² also opens exciting possibilities for resonant scattering.     

Undulators and generation of X-ray pulses in free-electron lasers with self-amplified spontaneous emission

The results of theoretical examination and comparative analysis of synchrotron radiation sources (specifically, undulators and X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs)) are presented. The problem of generation of shorter radiation pulses is prioritized; undulator systems and their corresponding FELs, which are considered to be the most promising in terms of generation of high-frequency ultrashort pulses of such radiation (in particular, in the X-ray range) are studied. The possibility of generation of higher harmonics is explored. The advantages and disadvantages of single-pass (with no reflecting elements) and multi-pass (with mirrors) FEL lasing schemes are revealed. The potential to reduce the duration of laser pulses produced by undulators and FELs and use them as sources of femtosecond pulses is investigated. The prospects for further development of X-ray free-electron lasers and the ways to improve the quality of their radiation with the given parameters are discussed.     

Numerical experiments on free-electron lasers without inversion

The inversionless free-electron laser having a drift region consisting of two magnets is analyzed. Performing numerical simulations of electron motion inside wigglers and the drift region, we have shown that this system has a positive mean gain over the entire energy distribution of the electron beam. We study the influence of emittance and the spread of electron energies on the gain.     

New possibilities for frequency stabilization of far infrared lasers

All spectrometers based on the use of a far infrared laser present the drawback of the laser frequency uncertainty. Even if the knowledge of the laser frequency is very precise, a shift of the laser cavity length is always present, limiting the spectrometer frequency accuracy to 500 kHz.The goal of this paper is to give a solution to this drawback in demonstrating the feasibility of a frequency stabilization of the far infrared laser.     

Self-field effects on small-signal gain in two-stage free-electron lasers

Self-field effects, induced by charge and current densities of the electron beam, on gain in two-stage free-electron laser with nonuniform guide magnetic field is presented. The gain equation for small-signal has been derived analytically. The results of numerical calculations show a gain decrement for group I orbits and a gain enhancement for group II orbits, due to the self-field effects. The wiggler-induced self-magnetic field has a diamagnetic effect for group I orbits, whereas for group II, it has a paramagnetic effect. It is also found that using a nonuniform guide field, rather than a uniform one, causes the gain to increase.     

The Schwinger effect and possibilities for its observation using optical and X-ray lasers

The probability W of e ⁺ e ^? pair production from a vacuum in an intense variable electric field generated with powerful optical or X-ray lasers is calculated. Two characteristic ranges are considered: γ ? 1 and γ ? 1, where γ is the adiabaticity parameter. The probability W is shown to increase sharply with γ (at a fixed field strength F). The dependence of W and the momentum spectrum of electrons and positrons on the laser pulse shape is discussed in detail. Numerical calculations were performed for a laser pulse with a Gaussian envelope and for some pulsed fields.     

Terahertz free-electron lasers with bragg structures based on the coupling between traveling and quasicritical waves

The possibility of creating high-power tunable planar terahertz free-electron lasers based on modified Bragg structures with the coupling of paraxial and transverse (with respect to the velocity of particles) wave fluxes has been demonstrated. In addition to the compatibility with the transport channels of intense electron beams, the advantage of the proposed structures is the spatial coherence of radiation at a large oversize factor of the interaction region in two transverse coordinates.     

Solution of the effects of twinning in femtosecond X-ray protein nanocrystallography

With the development of the XFEL (X-ray free electron laser), high quality diffraction patterns from nanocrystals have been achieved. The nanocrystals with different sizes and random orientations are injected to the XFEL beams and the diffraction patterns can be obtained by the so-called "diffraction-and-destruction" mode. The recovery of orientations is one of the most critical steps in reconstructing the 3D structure of nanocrystals. There is already an approach to solve the orientation problem by using the automated indexing software in crystallography. However, this method cannot distinguish the twin orientations in the cases of the symmetries of Bravais lattices higher than the point groups. Here we propose a new method to solve this problem. The shape transforms of nanocrystals can be determined from all of the intensities around the diffraction spots, and then Fourier transformation of a single crystal cell is obtained. The actual orientations of the patterns can be solved by comparing the values of the Fourier transformations of the crystal cell on the intersections of all patterns. This so-called "multiple-common-line" method can distinguish the twin orientations in the XFEL diffraction patterns successfully.     

New lasers based on c-cut vanadat crystals

Spectroscopic and lasing properties of c-cut Nd-doped Nd:Gd_0.7Y_0.3VO₄, Nd:YVO₄, and Nd:GdVO₄ crystals were investigated. Spectral tuning from 1062 to 1067 nm was demonstrated. CW, Q-switching and mode-locking regimes for two-color laser operations were realized. A novel THz source based on Q-switch two-color diode-pumped solid state c-cut Nd:GdVO₄ laser with Filter Lio as selective element and the GaSe nonlinear optical crystals as convertor was demonstrated. Terahertz radiation with wavelength 436 mm (0.56 THz) was detected. One picosecond laser pulses in mode-locking diode pumped c-cut vanadat lasers with a Kerr-lens and PbS-doped glasses as saturable absorbers are observed.     

Instability of an equation arising in the theory of free-electron lasers

The stability of the oscillations of an electron near the minima of the quasi-potential resulting from the superposition of two oppositely moving plane waves, which are the basic mechanism of free-electron lasers, has been studied in presence of strong fields using both the classical and relativistic equations of motion; numerical and approximate analytical results are given.     

Specific features of operation of free-electron lasers with a short bunch

The physical specific features of a free-electron laser in the short-wave region in which the bunch length in the proper frame is smaller than the undulator length in the same reference frame are discussed. The regimes of amplification of the external harmonic signal and the induced amplification of proper noise with forming the quasi-coherent radiation, i.e. the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) regime, are considered.     

Formation of the transverse field structure in terahertz planar free-electron lasers

The formation of a transverse structure of the field in terahertz free-electron lasers with a two-mirror Bragg resonator based on the open planar waveguide is analyzed. It is shown that the combination of diffraction effects with radiation channeling effects produced by sleeve electron bunches ensures spatial coherence of the field structure in the relevant coordinate for high values of the Frenkel parameter. The diffraction loss in this case is small on the scale of the power of radiation passing through the mirrors.     

Quasi-linear theory of multimode free-electron lasers with an inhomogeneous frequency broadening

assuming that the number of excited modes is large and their phases are random a quasi-linear theory of interaction of ultrarelativistic electron beam with the field of a high-quality cavity is developed. The saturation effects in FELs with an inhomogeneous frequency broadening are described. It is shown that in the case of very large excesses over threshold the efficiency of FELs tends to 50% but the emitted energy is distributed in a very wide spectral interval.     

Efficiency enhancement in free-electron lasers by means of concurrent rf acceleration

Efficiency enhancement in free-electron lasers (FELs) using rf beam acceleration in the wiggler is described. Since the beam tube is a waveguide, there are low and high frequency resonances. Injection of low frequency power can act as an inverse-FEL accelerator concurrently with high frequency power extraction. Simulation of a FEL using this technique shows that substantial efficiency enhancements are possible without significant increases in the beam energy spread, which facilitates the use of energy recovery schemes. The technique is applicable to amplifier and oscillator configurations.