Search Results (20 total)

Coherent radiation emitted from a compressed electron bunch as it traverses the sharp edge regions of a magnetic chicane has been investigated at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Accelerator Test Facility. Electron beam measurements using coherent transition radiation interferometry indicate a 100 fs rms bunch accompanied by distinct distortions in energy spectrum due to strong self-fields. These self-fields are manifested in emitted high power THz radiation, which displays signatures of the phenomenon known as coherent edge radiation. Radiation characterization studies undertaken include spectral analysis, far-field intensity distribution, polarization, and dependence on the electron bunch length. The observed aspects of the beam and radiation allow detailed comparisons with start-to-end simulations.

We demonstrate that trains of subpicosecond electron microbunches, with subpicosecond spacing, can be produced by placing a mask in a region of the beam line where the beam transverse size is dominated by the correlated energy spread. We show that the number, length, and spacing of the microbunches can be controlled through the parameters of the beam and the mask. Such microbunch trains can be further compressed and accelerated and have applications to free electron lasers and plasma wakefield accelerators.

A free relativistic electron in an electromagnetic field is a pure case of a light-matter interaction. In the laboratory environment, this interaction can be realized by colliding laser pulses with electron beams produced from particle accelerators. The process of single photon absorption and reemission by the electron, so-called linear Thomson scattering, results in radiation that is Doppler shifted into the x-ray and γ-ray regions. At elevated laser intensity, nonlinear effects should come into play when the transverse motion of the electrons induced by the laser beam is relativistic. In the present experiment, we achieved this condition and characterized the second harmonic of Thomson x-ray scattering using the counterpropagation of a 60 MeV electron beam and a subterawatt CO₂ laser beam.

We report results from an experiment that demonstrates the successful superposition of wakefields excited by 50 MeV bunches which travel ∼50  cm along the axis of a cylindrical waveguide which is lined with alumina. The bunches are prepared by splitting a single laser pulse prior to focusing it onto the cathode of an rf gun into two pulses and inserting an optical delay in the path of one of them. Wakefields from two short (5–6 psec) 0.15–0.35 nC bunches are superimposed and the energy loss of each bunch is measured as the separation between the bunches is varied so as to encompass approximately one wakefield period (∼21   cm). A spectrum of ∼40   TM_0m eigenmodes is excited by the bunch. A substantial retarding wakefield (2.65   MV/m·nC for just the first bunch) is developed because of the short bunch length and the narrow vacuum channel diameter (3 mm) through which they move. The energy loss of the second bunch exhibits a narrow peak when the bunch spacing is varied by only 4 mm (13.5 psec). This experiment is compared with a related experiment reported by a group at the Argonne National Laboratory where the bunch spacing was not varied and a much weaker retarding wakefield (∼0.1   MV/m·nC for the first bunch) comprising only about 10 eigenmodes was excited by a train of long (∼9   mm) bunches.

Observation of ultrawide bandwidth, up to 15% full-width, high-gain operation of a self-amplified spontaneous emission free-election laser (SASE FEL) is reported. This type of lasing is obtained with a strongly chirped beam (δE/E∼1.7%) emitted from the accelerator. Because of nonlinear pulse compression during transport, a short, high current bunch with strong mismatch errors is injected into the undulator, giving high FEL gain. Start-to-end simulations reproduce key features of the measurements and provide insight into mechanisms, such as angular spread in emitted photon and electron trajectory distributions, which yield novel features in the radiation spectrum.

Presented are details of the staged electron laser acceleration (STELLA) experiment, which demonstrated high-trapping efficiency and narrow energy spread in a staged laser-driven accelerator. Trapping efficiencies of up to 80% and energy spreads down to 0.36% (1σ) were demonstrated. The experiment validated an approach that may be suitable for the basic design of a laser-driven accelerator system. In this approach, a laser-driven modulator together with a chicane creates a train of microbunches spaced apart by the laser wavelength. These microbunches are sent into a second laser-driven accelerator designed to efficiently trap the microbunches in the ponderomotive potential well of the laser electric field while maintaining a narrow energy spread. The STELLA scientific apparatus and procedures are described in detail. In-depth comparisons between the data and model are given including the predicted energy spectrum, energy-phase plot, and microbunch length profile. Data and model comparisons as a function of the phase delay between the microbunches and the accelerating wave are presented. The model is exercised to reveal how the high-trapping efficiency process evolves during the acceleration process.

Laser-driven electron accelerators (laser linacs) offer the potential for enabling much more economical and compact devices. However, the development of practical and efficient laser linacs requires accelerating a large ensemble of electrons together (“trapping”) while keeping their energy spread small. This has never been realized before for any laser acceleration system. We present here the first demonstration of high-trapping efficiency and narrow energy spread via laser acceleration. Trapping efficiencies of up to 80% and energy spreads down to 0.36% (1σ) were demonstrated.

We propose using an optical parametric amplifier, with a ∼12   μm wavelength, for optical-stochastic cooling of ⁷⁹Au ions in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. While the bandwidth of this amplifier is comparable to that of a Ti:sapphire laser, it has a higher average output power. Its wavelength is longer than that of the laser amplifiers previously considered for such an application. This longer wavelength permits a longer undulator period and higher magnetic field, thereby generating a larger signal from the pickup undulator and ensuring a more efficient interaction in the kicker undulator, both being essential elements in cooling moderately relativistic ions. The transition to a longer wavelength also relaxes the requirements for stability of the path length during ion-beam transport between pickup and kicker undulators.

We report a measurement of the multidimensional phase-space density distribution of an electron bunch. The measurement combines the techniques of picosecond slice-emittance measurement and high-resolution tomographic measurement of transverse phase space. This technique should have a significant impact on the development of low emittance beams and their many applications, such as short-wavelength free-electron lasers and laser accelerators. A diagnostic that provides detailed information on the density distribution of the electron bunch in multidimensional phase space is an essential tool for obtaining a small emittance at a reasonable charge and for understanding the physics of emittance growth. We previously reported a measurement of the slice emittance of a picosecond electron beam [J. S. Fraser, R. L. Sheffield, and E. R. Gray, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 250, 71 (1986).]. The tomographic reconstruction of the phase space was suggested [X. Qiu, K. Batchelor, I. Ben-Zvi, and X. J. Wang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3723 (1996).] and implemented [C. B. McKee, P. G. O’Shea, and J. M. J. Madey, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 358, 264 (1995); I. Ben-Zvi, J. X. Qiu, and X. J. Wang, in Proceedings of the Particle Accelerator Conference, Vancouver, 1997 (IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, 1997).] using a single quadrupole scan. In the present work we expand the tomographic reconstruction work and combine it with the slice-emittance method. Our present tomographic work pays special attention to the accuracy of the phase-space reconstruction. We use a transport line with nine focusing magnets, and present an analysis and technique aimed at the control of the optical functions and phases. This high-precision phase-space tomography together with the ability to modify the radial charge distribution of the electron beam presents an opportunity to improve the emittance and apply nonlinear radial emittance corrections. Combining the slice emittance and tomography diagnostics leads to an unprecedented visualization of phase-space distributions in five-dimensional phase space and provides an opportunity to perform high-order emittance corrections.

VISA (Visible to Infrared SASE Amplifier) is a high-gain self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL), which achieved saturation at 840 nm within a single-pass 4-m undulator. The experiment was performed at the Accelerator Test Facility at BNL, using a high brightness 70-MeV electron beam. A gain length shorter than 18 cm has been obtained, yielding a total gain of 2×10⁸ at saturation. The FEL performance, including the spectral, angular, and statistical properties of SASE radiation, has been characterized for different electron beam conditions. Results are compared to the three-dimensional SASE FEL theory and start-to-end numerical simulations of the entire injector, transport, and FEL systems. An agreement between simulations and experimental results has been obtained at an unprecedented level of detail.

An experiment has been carried out at the Brookhaven Accelerator Test Facility to investigate the effect of a surface-roughness wakefield in narrow beam tubes with artificially created bumps. The measurements show that the synchronous modes decay significantly due to the randomization of the roughness pattern. It is pointed out that this decay mechanism has not been investigated in the previous experiment at DESY and the investigators’ conclusion does not apply for surface-roughness wakefields in real surfaces.

Electron beam microbunching in both the fundamental and second harmonic in a high-gain self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron laser (SASE FEL) was experimentally characterized using coherent transition radiation. The microbunching factors for both modes (b₁ and b₂) approach unity, an indication of FEL saturation. These measurements are compared to the predictions of FEL simulations. The simultaneous capture of the microbunching and SASE radiation for individual micropulses correlate the longitudinal electron beam structure with the FEL gain.

The emittance of a high-brightness electron beam from a photoinjector is affected by the transverse and longitudinal distributions of the laser beam illuminating the cathode. A nonuniform laser beam generates a nonuniform electron-beam distribution that experiences emittance growth on a time scale of the plasma period. Experiments were performed at the Brookhaven Accelerator Test Facility to investigate the emittance growth due to transversely nonuniform laser beams. Laser masks were fabricated to generate various laser distributions. Significant emittance growth was observed as the laser distribution deviated strongly from a uniform distribution. For cylindrically symmetric, nonuniform distributions, experimental results agree with PARMELA simulations. The emittance dependence on the bunch charge is linear as a function of the bunch charge for both uniform and nonuniform beams. For a uniform beam, the emittance measurements agree well with the predictions from PARMELA simulations, but the analytical approach overestimates the results. For nonuniform beams, analytical estimates are about 70% of the measurements. For noncylindrically symmetric, nonuniform beams, we observed that the emittance is linearly proportional to the rms laser nonuniformity and the best emittance for a perfectly uniform beam is extrapolated to be 1.07±0.13   mm mrad at 0.5 nC.

Nonlinear harmonic radiation was observed using the VISA self-amplified, spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL) at saturation. The gain lengths, spectra, and energies of the three lowest SASE FEL modes were experimentally characterized. The measured nonlinear harmonic gain lengths and center spectral wavelengths decrease with harmonic number, n, which is consistent with nonlinear harmonic theory. Both the second and third nonlinear harmonics energies are about 1% of the fundamental energy. These experimental results demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of using nonlinear harmonic SASE FEL radiation to produce coherent, femtosecond x rays.

Detailed experimental results of staging two laser-driven, relativistic electron accelerators are presented. During the experiment called STELLA (staged electron laser acceleration), an inverse free-electron laser (IFEL) is used to modulate the electron energy, thereby, causing ∼3 fs microbunches to form separated by the laser wavelength at 10.6 μm (equivalent to a 35 fs period). A second IFEL accelerates the electrons depending upon the phase of the microbunches entering the second IFEL with respect to the laser beam driving the second IFEL. The data presented includes electron energy spectra as a function of the phase delay and laser power driving the first IFEL. Also shown is a comparison with the computer model, which includes space charge and misalignment effects.

We report on an experimental investigation characterizing the output of a high-gain harmonic-generation (HGHG) free-electron laser (FEL) at saturation. A seed CO₂ laser at a wavelength of 10.6 μm was used to generate amplified FEL output at 5.3 μm. Measurement of the frequency spectrum, pulse duration, and correlation length of the 5.3 μm output verified that the light is longitudinally coherent. Investigation of the electron energy distribution and output harmonic energies provides evidence for saturated HGHG FEL operation.

Staging of two laser-driven, relativistic electron accelerators has been demonstrated for the first time in a proof-of-principle experiment, whereby two distinct and serial laser accelerators acted on an electron beam in a coherently cumulative manner. Output from a CO₂ laser was split into two beams to drive two inverse free electron lasers (IFEL) separated by 2.3 m. The first IFEL served to bunch the electrons into ∼3 fs microbunches, which were rephased with the laser wave in the second IFEL. This represents a crucial step towards the development of practical laser-driven electron accelerators.

Longitudinal and transverse phase space information has been obtained from a statistical analysis of fluctuations in the radiation spectrum of an electron bunch. Uncorrelated shot noise fluctuations in longitudinal beam density result in incoherent radiation with a spectrum that consists of spikes, with width inversely proportional to the bunch length. Measurements were performed at λ  =  620 nm on a 1–5 ps long, 44 MeV bunch propagating through a wiggler. Bunch length and emittance obtained with this single shot technique agree with independent measurements.

An electron beam microbunched on the optical wavelength scale of ≈2.5 μm by an inverse free electron laser accelerator was observed. The optimum bunching was achieved for a 1% energy modulation of a 32 MeV electron beam with 0.5 GW CO₂ laser power. The microbunching process was investigated by measuring the coherent transition radiation produced by the energy modulated electron beam. A quadratic dependence of the transition radiation signal on the electron beam charge was observed. The observed shortest wavelength of coherent transition radiation is less than 2.5 μm. The debunching process of the microbunched electron beam was experimentally investigated.

We report evidence of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) at 1064 and 633 nm. To our knowledge, these are the first measurements of SASE at such a short wavelength and employ the smallest period wiggler, 8.8 mm, used to date in a successful SASE experiment. The experiments were performed with the MIT microwiggler at the Accelerator Test Facility at BNL. Single-pass, on-axis microwiggler emissions within a 25 nm bandwidth have been recorded as a function of beam charge and show a clear enhancement over spontaneous emission. For the measurement at 1064 nm, a single micropulse at 34 MeV with a variable charge of 0–1 nC and less than 5 ps full width at half maximum bunch length was passed through the microwiggler and emissions into a limited solid angle and bandwidth, selected by an aperture and interference filter, were focused onto a silicon photodiode. Enhancement of the emissions, from 2 to 6 times the spontaneous emission level, was observed at the highest charges. In addition, we observed SASE gain at a wavelength of 633 nm at a beam energy of 48 MeV, without detailed measurements.