Self-amplified spontaneous emission in a free-electron laser has been proposed for the generation of very high brightness coherent x-rays. This process involves passing a high-energy, high-charge, short-pulse, low-energy-spread, and low-emittance electron beam through the periodic magnetic field of a long series of high-quality undulator magnets. The radiation produced grows exponentially in intensity until it reaches a saturation point. We report on the demonstration of self-amplified spontaneous emission gain, exponential growth, and saturation at visible (530 nanometers) and ultraviolet (385 nanometers) wavelengths. Good agreement between theory and simulation indicates that scaling to much shorter wavelengths may be possible. These results confirm the physics behind the self-amplified spontaneous emission process and forward the development of an operational x-ray free-electron laser.

The ability to generate small transverse emittance is perhaps the main limiting factor for the performance of high-gain x-ray free-electron lasers (FELs). Noting that beams from an rf photocathode gun can have energy spread much smaller than required for efficient FEL interaction, we present a method to produce normalized transverse emittance at or below about 0:1 m, which will lead to a significantly shorter length undulator as well as a lower electron beam energy for an x-ray FEL project. The beam manipulation consists of producing an unequal partition of the initially equal emittances into two dissimilar emittances by a flat-beam technique and exchanging the larger transverse emittance with a smaller longitudinal emittance. We study various issues involved in the manipulation. In particular, a new emittance exchange optics we found enables an exact emittance exchange necessary for this scheme.

Strong evidence for self-excited emission of coherent synchrotron radiation in the microwave spectral region was observed at the Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF III) electron storage ring at the NIST. The microwave emission between 25 and 35 mm was dominated by intense bursts of radiation. The intensity enhancement during these bursts was on the order of 10 000 to 50 000 over the incoherent value. The shape, width, and period of the bursts depend strongly on the operational parameters of the storage ring. Coherent microwave emission was observed only when the beam was unstable, namely, during bunch-length relaxation oscillations. We report on the measurements of the microwave bursts, and correlate the data with signals from a beam monitor electrode and photodiode detector. The coherent enhancement of the radiation intensity is ascribed to spontaneous self-induced microbunching of the electrons within the bunch.

Time evolution of thermal expansion in the crystal lattice of diamond was studied on the time scale from 100 ps to 18 µs upon heating of the crystal through the entire thickness by a penetrating optical laser pulse of ≈ 8 ps duration. Bragg reflectivity curves were measured at different instants of time using pump-probe high-energy-resolution x-ray diffraction with ≃ 10 −8 strain sensitivity. The observed time-dependent variation of Bragg reflectivity was found to be in agreement with dynamical diffraction calculations for a crystal with propagating strain generated by thermally induced stress. The strain propagated at the speed of sound for longitudinal waves from both crystal surfaces into the bulk.

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