Generation and measurement of sub-picosecond electron bunch in photocathode rf gun

We consider a scheme to generate a sub-picosecond electron bunch in the photocathode rf gun by im-proving the acceleration gradient in the gun, suitably tuning the bunch charge, the laser spot size and the acceleration phase, and reducing the growth of transverse emittance by laser shaping. A nondestructive technique is also reported to measure the electron bunch length, by measuring the high-frequency spectrum of wakefield radiation which is caused by the passage of a relativistic electron bunch through a channel surrounded by a dielectric.     

A Radio Frequency Field Guide Using Field Induced Adiabatic Potential

We study the behaviour of atoms in a field with both static magnetic field and radio frequency （rf） magnetic field. We calculate the adiabatic potential of atoms numerically beyond the usually rotating wave approximation, and it is pointed that there is a great difference between using these two methods. We find the preconditions when RWA is valid. In the extreme of static field almost parallel to rf field, we reach an analytic formula. Finally, we apply this method to 87 Rb and propose a guide based on an rf field on atom chip.     

A Novel Method for Measuring the Absolute Phase of a Few—Cycle High Intensity Laser

The effect of the absolute phase of the few-cycle driving laser field on the generation and measurement of highorder harmonic attosecond pulses is investigated theoretically.We find that the generated attosecond soft-x-ray pulse is locked to the oscillations of the driving laser field,but not to the envelope of the laser pulse,and the intensity ratio of two adjacent attosenond pulses is exponential as a function of the absolute phase.Based on these results,we propose a novel method to detect the absolute phase of the driving laser field by measuring the spatial distribution of the photoelectrons induced by the attosecond soft-x-ray pulse and the driving laser field.     

First Beam Measurements of the S-Band photocathode Radio-Frequency Gun at Tsinghua University

During the last decades, photocathode rf gun has been proven to be successful in generating the high brightness electron beam （-lnC,-lπ mmmrad,-l ps） which is required by the ILC, XFEL, Thomson scattering x-ra y source, etc. A photocathode rf gun system is built to develop electron source for the Thomson scattering x-ray source at Accelerator Laboratory of Tsinghua University. The system consists of a BNL/ATF-type 1.6 cell S-band rf cavity, a solenoid for emittance compensation, a laser system and some simple equipments for beam diagnosis. The first beam measurements of the photocathode rf gun, including the dark current, transverse beam profile, charge and quantum efficiency, are reported.     

Interference Dynamics of Hydrogen Atoms in High—Frequency Dichromatic Laser Fields

We investigate the ionization and high-order harmonic generation of a hydrogen atom in high-frequency (several atomic units) super strong (up to several tens of atomic units) dichromatic laser fields.An effective iterative method in the framework of high-frequency Floquet theory is used in the calculations.We have considered two kinds of dichromatic laser field,i.e.1ω-2ω and 1ω-3ω.We find that,in both the cases,the ionization and high-order harmonic generation show evident dependence on the relative phase and strength of the additional harmonic field.The dynamical origin of these interference effects is also discussed.     

Frequency-Shift of a Frequency Stabilized Laser Based on Zeeman Effect

We introduce a new method of frequency-shifting for a diode laser in laser cooling experiments, the method is based on the Zeeman egect of^87 Rb atoms. The laser frequency is stabilized by absorption spectrum line of atoms in magnetic field. We show that a magnetic field can be added up to 10^-2T. The corresponding frequency shift is 10^2 MHz and the response time is about 1ms. The large range of the frequency shift is suffcient for laser-cooling experiments.     

Bunch length measurement at Tsinghua Thomson scattering X-ray source

The length of electron beam from a photocathode RF gun is determined by a spectrometer, according to the relative energy spread induced by the bunch length during the acceleration in a linac. For a photocathode RF gun, different laser injected phase and beam charge are studied. The compression is changed for the different laser phases, as from 10° to 30°, and the bunch length is lengthened due to the strong longitudinal space charge force, caused by the increased charge.     

Effect of the Initial Laser Phase on the Interaction Between Relativistic Electron and Ultra－Intense Laser Field in a Strong Uniform Magnetic Field

We investigate the influence of the initial laser phase on the interaction between relativistic electron and ultraintense linear polarized laser field in a strong uniform magnetic field. It is found that the dynamic behaviour of the relativistic electron and the emission spectrum varies dramatically with different initial laser field phases.The effect of changing initial phase is contrary in the two parameter regions divided by the resonance condition.The phase dependence of the electron energy and velocity components are also studied. Some beat structure is found when the initial laser phase is zero and this structure is absent when the initial laser phase is a quarter of a period.     

Characterization of a Dielectric Barrier Plasma Gun Discharging at Atmospheric Pressure

We develop a plasma gun based on dielectric barrier discharge and working at atmospheric pressure. A theoretical model to predict the gun discharge voltage is built, whirh is in agreement with the experimental results. After inwstigating the characterization of discharging gun and utilizing it for polymerization, we find that the gun can be used as a source to generate a stable uniform plasma for different plasma-processing technologies.     

Generation of a hollow laser beam by a multimode fiber

A simple method to generate a hollow laser beam by multimode fiber is reported.A dark hollow laser beam is generated from a multimode fiber and the dependence of the output beam profile on the incident angle of laser beam is analyzed.The results show that this hollow laser beam can be used to trap and guide cold atoms.     

The Carrier-Envelope Phase of Focused Few-Cycle Laser Pulses

The Gouy phase shift modulates the carrier-envelope phase of a focused few-cycle laser pulse. We investigate the variations of the carrier-envelope （CE） phase of a pulsed Gaussian beam on and off the axis by the first-order approximation and numerical calculation. The CE phase undergoes a π shift from minus infinity to infinity, and it changes fastest with distance at the focus. The variation of CE phase on propagation distance is nearly independent of pulse duration At when At is greater than lO fs and the first order approximation fits this result very well. The maximum difference of CE phase between a pulse with duration of one cycle and the result of first-order approximation is 0.09.     

Laser Phase Determination and Transfer Function to Directly Measure the Temporal Structure of a Narrow Bandwidth Attosecond EUV Pulse

A laser phase determination method and a transfer function that includes a proportional term of a measured photoelectron energy spectrum are presented to directly measure the detailed temporal structure of a narrow bandwidth attosecond extreme-ultraviolet （EUV） pulse. The method is based on the spectrum measurement of an electron generated by EUV photo-ionization interacting with a femtosecond laser field. The results of the study suggest that measurements should be taken at 0° or 180° with respect to the linear laser polarization. The method has a temporal measurement range of about half a laser oscillation period. The temporal resolution also depends on the jitter and control precision of the laser and EUV pulses.     

Compact narrow-band THz radiation source based on photocathode rf gun

Narrow-band THz coherent Cherenkov radiation can be driven by a subpicosecond electron bunch trav- eling along the axis of a hollow cylindrical dielectric-lined waveguide. We present a scheme of compact THz radiation source based on the photocathode rf gun. On the basis of our analytic result, the subpicosecond electron bunch with high charge （800 pC） can be generated directly in the photocathode rf gun. According to the analytical and simulated results, a narrow emission spectrum peaked at 0.24 THz with 2 megawatt （MW） peak power is expected to gain in the proposed scheme （the length of the facility is about 1.2 m）.     

Determination of Inelastic Mean Free Path by Electron Holography Along with Electron Dynamic Calculation

Off-axis electron holography in a field emission gun transmission-electron microscope and electron dynamic calculation are used to determine the absorption coefficient and inelastic mean free path(IMFP) of copper. Dependence of the phase shift of the exit electron wave on the specimen thickness is established by electron dynamic simulation. The established relationship makes it possible to determine the specimeu thickness with the calculated phase shift by match of the phase shift measured in the reconstructed phase image. Based on the measured amplitudes in reconstructed exit electron wave and reference wave in the vacuum, the examined IMFP of electron with energy of 200kV in Cu is obtained to be 96nm.     

Compact narrow-band THz radiation source based on photocathode rf gun

Narrow-band THz coherent Cherenkov radiation can be driven by a subpicosecond electron bunch traveling along the axis of a hollow cylindrical dielectric-lined waveguide. We present a scheme of compact THz radiation source based on the photocathode rf gun. On the basis of our analytic result, the subpicosecond electron bunch with high charge (800 pC) can be generated directly in the photocathode rf gun. According to the analytical and simulated results, a narrow emission spectrum peaked at 0.24 THz with 2 megawatt (MW) peak power is expected to gain in the proposed scheme (the length of the facility is about 1.2 m).     

Theoretical Analysis of the Critical Phenomena of a Brillouin Laser

The critical phenomena of a Brillouin laser are analyzed theoretically. The results show that the behavior of a Brillouin laser in the threshold region is a second-order phase transition. The critical point of the phase transition is the gain threshold of the Brillouin laser, and the order parameter is the amplitude of the Stokes component in stimulated Brillouin scattering. The critical slow-down phenomenon and the typical characteristics in phase transition are demonstrated. Further work on the combination of nonlinear optics and phase transition in the Brillouin laser may lead to a new view and findings that could be significant for both fields.     

Photoinjector beam quality improvement by shaping the wavefront of a drive laser with oblique incidence

To increase the quantum efficiency (QE) of a copper photocathode and reduce the thermal emittance of an electron beam, a drive laser with oblique incidence was adopted in a BNL type photocathode rf gun. The disadvantageous effects on the beam quality caused by oblique incidence were analyzed qualitatively. A simple way to solve the problems through wavefront shaping was introduced and the beam quality was improved.     

Frequency stabilization of a single-frequency all-solid-state laser for Doppler wind lidar

The master laser of an injection-seeded laser for Doppler wind lidar is frequency stabilized to a Fabry- Perot(FP)cavity using Pound-Drever-Hall technique.The FP cavity is specially designed to gain high temperature stability with Zerodur cavity and spacer.A computer based controller is used to sample and process the error signal.After the master laser is locked,the relative frequency drift,is±25 kHz in 1s, and±55 kHz in 1h,which can satisfy the need of Doppler wind lidar.     

Design and performance of a video-based laser beam automatic alignment system

A laser alignment system is applied to a high power laser facility for inertial confinement fusion. A design of the automated, close-loop laser beam alignment system is described. Its function is to sense beam alignment errors in a laser beam transport system and automatically steer mirrors preceding the sensor location as required to maintain beam alignment. The laser beam is sampled by a sensor package, which uses video cameras to sense pointing and centering errors. The camera outputs are fed to a personal computer, which includes video digitizers and uses image storage and software to sense the centroid of the image. Signals are sent through the computer to a stepper motor controller, which drives stepper motors on mirror mounts preceding the beam sampling location to return the beam alignment to the prescribed condition. Its optical principles and key techniques are given. The pointing and centering sensitivities of the beam alignment sensor package are analyzed. The system has been verified on the     

Optimization of High-Order Harmonic by Genetic Algorithm for the Chirp and Phase of Few-Cycle Pulses

The brightness of a particular harmonic order is optimized for the chirp and initial phase of the laser pulse by genetic algorithm. The influences of the chirp and initial phase of the excitation pulse on the harmonic spectra are discussed in terms of the semi-classical model including the propagation effects. The results indicate that the harmonic intensity and cutoff have strong dependence on the chirp of the laser pulse, but slightly on its initial phase. The high-order harmonics can be enhanced by the optimal laser pulse and its cutoff can be tuned by optimization of the chirp and initial phase of the laser pulse.