We propose to use an echo effect previously observed in hadron accelerators for up-frequency conversion of density modulation in an electron beam. We show that, for generation of high harmonics, this method is much more efficient in comparison with the currently used approach.A one dimensional model of the effect is developed which allows to optimize the amplitude of the modulation for a given harmonic number.

In this paper, we systematically study the echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) free electron laser (FEL). The EEHG FEL uses two modulators in combination with two dispersion sections that allow one to generate in the beam a high harmonic density modulation starting with a relatively small initial energy modulation of the beam. After presenting an analytical theory of the phenomenon, we address several practically important issues, such as the effect of incoherent synchrotron radiation in the dispersion sections, and the beam transverse size effect in the modulator. Using a representative realistic set of beam parameters, we show how the EEHG scheme enhances the FEL performance and allows one to generate a fully (both longitudinally and transversely) coherent radiation. As an example, we demonstrate that 5 nm coherent soft x rays with GW peak power can be generated directly from the 240 nm seeding laser using the proposed EEHG scheme.

A microbunching instability driven by longitudinal space charge, coherent synchrotron radiation, and linac wakefields is studied for the linac coherent light source (LCLS) accelerator system. Since the uncorrelated (local) energy spread of electron beams generated from a photocathode rf gun is very small, the microbunching gain may be large enough to significantly amplify rf-gun generated modulations or even shot-noise fluctuations of the electron beam. The uncorrelated energy spread can be increased by an order of magnitude to provide strong Landau damping against the instability without degrading the free-electron laser performance. We study different damping options in the LCLS and discuss an effective laser heater to minimize the impact of the instability on the quality of the electron beam.

We propose a novel method to generate femtosecond and sub-femtosecond photon pulses in a freeelectron laser by selectively spoiling the transverse emittance of the electron beam. Its merits are simplicity and ease of implementation. When the system is applied to the Linac Coherent Light Source, it can provide x-ray pulses the order of 1 femtosecond in duration containing about 10 10 transversely coherent photons. † Emma@SLAC.Stanford.edu ‡ On leave from Deutches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY),