Plasma-wakefield accelerators driven by intense particle beams promise to significantly reduce the size of future high-energy facilities. Such applications require particle beams with a ...well-controlled energy spectrum, which necessitates detailed tailoring of the plasma wakefield. Precise measurements of the effective wakefield structure are therefore essential for optimising the acceleration process. Here we propose and demonstrate such a measurement technique that enables femtosecond-level (15 fs) sampling of longitudinal electric fields of order gigavolts-per-meter (0.8 GV m
). This method-based on energy collimation of the incoming bunch-made it possible to investigate the effect of beam and plasma parameters on the beam-loaded longitudinally integrated plasma wakefield, showing good agreement with particle-in-cell simulations. These results open the door to high-quality operation of future plasma accelerators through precise control of the acceleration process.
High-gain free-electron lasers (FELs) are capable of generating femtosecond x-ray pulses with peak brilliances many orders of magnitude higher than at other existing x-ray sources. In order to fully ...exploit the opportunities offered by these femtosecond light pulses in time-resolved experiments, an unprecedented synchronization accuracy is required. In this Letter, we distributed the pulse train of a mode-locked fiber laser with femtosecond stability to different locations in the linear accelerator of the soft x-ray FEL FLASH. A novel electro-optic detection scheme was applied to measure the electron bunch arrival time with an as yet unrivaled precision of 6 fs (rms). With two beam-based feedback systems we succeeded in stabilizing both the arrival time and the electron bunch compression process within two magnetic chicanes, yielding a significant reduction of the FEL pulse energy jitter.
Echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) is a promising technique for seeded free electron lasers (FELs) not only to go down to wavelengths of 4 nm but also to simplify the schemes that are currently ...used to achieve a similar wavelength range (double cascade HGHG). Thus a study optimizing the EEHG performance in the wavelength range from 60 to 4nm has been performed. The more critical working point, at 4 nm, is here analyzed in terms of seed laser stability for two different seed laser frequencies: visible and UV.
The FLASHForward facility at DESY Aschikhin, A.; Behrens, C.; Bohlen, S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
01/2016, Letnik:
806
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The FLASHForward project at DESY is a pioneering plasma-wakefield acceleration experiment that aims to produce, in a few centimetres of ionised hydrogen, beams with energy of order GeV that are of ...quality sufficient to be used in a free-electron laser. The plasma is created by ionising a gas in a gas cell with a multi-TW laser system. The plasma wave will be driven by high-current-density electron beams from the FLASH linear accelerator. The laser system can also be used to provide optical diagnostics of the plasma and electron beams due to the <30fs synchronisation between the laser and the driving electron beam. The project will explore both external and internal witness-beam injection techniques. The operation parameters of the experiment are discussed, as well as the scientific programme.
Beam quality preservation in the external injection scheme is one of the key missing milestones towards staging of plasma-wakefield accelerators, a prerequisite for their utilisation in particle ...physics or other applications requiring high energy beams. This topic will be studied at FLASHForward, a unique beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration facility currently under construction at DESY (Hamburg, Germany), in the frame of the FLASHForward X-2 experiment. High-quality 1 GeV-class electron beams from the free-electron laser FLASH with μm-emittances, kA-scale currents, and less than 100 fs durations will be utilised to generate driver–witness pairs by using a mask in a dispersive section. In this contribution the physics case and the current status of the FLASHForward X-2 experiment are reviewed. The experimental installation is described, with a focus on the electron beamline. Electron beam dynamics and particle-in-cell simulations are presented.
FLASH is the first soft X-ray FEL user facility, routinely providing brilliant photon beams for users since 2005. The second undulator branch of this facility, FLASH2, is gap-tunable which allows to ...test and use advanced lasing concepts. In particular, we developed a two-color operation mode based on the alternatingly tuned undulator segments (every other segment is tuned to the second wavelength). This scheme is advantageous in comparison with a subsequent generation of two colors in two consecutive sections of the undulator line. First, source positions of the two FEL beams are close to each other which makes it easier to focus them on a sample. Second, the amplification is more efficient in this configuration since the segments with respectively "wrong" wavelength still act as bunchers. We studied operation of this scheme in the regime of small and large separation of tunes (up to a factor of two). We developed new methods for online intensity measurements of the two colors simultaneously that require a combination of two detectors. We also demonstrated our capabilities to measure spectral and temporal properties of two pulses with different wavelengths.
The FLASHForward project at DESY is a pioneering plasma-wakefield acceleration experiment that aims to produce, in a few centimetres of ionised hydrogen, beams with energy of order GeV that are of ...quality sufficient to be used in a free-electron laser. The plasma wave will be driven by high-current density electron beams from the FLASH linear accelerator and will explore both external and internal witness-beam injection techniques. The plasma is created by ionising a gas in a gas cell with a multi-TW laser system, which can also be used to provide optical diagnostics of the plasma and electron beams due to the <30 fs synchronisation between the laser and the driving electron beam. The operation parameters of the experiment are discussed, as well as the scientific program.
Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1990.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-119).
by Ricardo J. Zemella.
M.S.