Development of an undulator with a variable magnetic field profile.

An undulator generating a magnetic field whose longitudinal profile is arbitrarily varied has been developed, which is one of the key components in a number of proposed new concepts in free-electron lasers. The undulator is composed of magnet modules, each of which corresponds to a single undulator period, and is driven by a linear actuator to change the magnetic gap independently. To relax the requirement on the actuator, the mechanical load on each module due to magnetic force acting from opponent and adjacent modules is reduced by means of two kinds of spring systems. The performance of the constructed undulator has been successfully demonstrated by magnetic measurement and characterization of synchrotron radiation.

A micro channel-cut crystal X-ray monochromator for a self-seeded hard X-ray free-electron laser.

A channel-cut Si(111) crystal with a channel width of 90 µm was developed for achieving reflection self-seeding in hard X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). With the crystal a monochromatic seed pulse is produced from a broadband XFEL pulse generated in the first undulator section with an optical delay of 119 fs at 10 keV. The small optical delay allows a temporal overlap between the seed optical pulse and the electron bunch by using a small magnetic chicane for the electron beam placed between two undulator sections. Peak reflectivity reached 67%, which is reasonable compared with the theoretical value of 81%. By using this monochromator, a monochromatic seed pulse without broadband background in the spectrum was obtained at SACLA with a conversion efficiency from a broadband XFEL pulse of 2 × 10-2, which is ∼10 times higher than the theoretical efficiency of transmission self-seeding using a thin diamond (400) monochromator.

Attosecond single-cycle undulator light: a review.

Research at modern light sources continues to improve our knowledge of the natural world, from the subtle workings of life to matter under extreme conditions. Free-electron lasers, for instance, have enabled the characterization of biomolecular structures with sub-ångström spatial resolution, and paved the way to controlling the molecular functions. On the other hand, attosecond temporal resolution is necessary to broaden our scope of the ultrafast world. Here we discuss attosecond pulse generation beyond present capabilities. Furthermore, we review three recently proposed methods of generating attosecond x-ray pulses. These novel methods exploit the coherent radiation of microbunched electrons in undulators and the tailoring of the emitted wavefronts. The computed pulse energy outperforms pre-existing technologies by three orders of magnitude. Specifically, our simulations of the proposed Soft X-ray Laser at MAX IV (Lund, Sweden) show that a pulse duration of 50-100 as and a pulse energy up to 5 [Formula: see text]J is feasible with the novel methods. In addition, the methods feature pulse shape control, enable the incorporation of orbital angular momentum, and can be used in combination with modern compact free-electron laser setups.

Enhancing the Radiation Resistance of Undulator Permanent Magnets by Tilting the Easy Axis of Magnetization.

The undulator is a magnetic device usually consisting of a series of rare-earth permanent magnets (REPMs) arranged to generate a sinusoidal magnetic field, and is installed in synchrotron radiation and free electron laser facilities to periodically deflect high-energy electrons. Because the undulator is operated under a high-radiation environment, it is important to take possible measures to avoid the quality degradation, in particular the radiation damage of REPMs. We present a simple scheme to enhance the radiation resistance of REPMs in undulators, in which the easy axis of each REPM is tilted by 45°. Experimental studies have revealed that the radiation resistance of REPMs in this configuration is enhanced by an order of magnitude compared to that in the conventional undulator.

Lightweight-compact variable-gap undulator with force cancellation system based on multipole monolithic magnets.

A lightweight-compact variable-gap undulator (LCVGU) having the force-cancellation system based on the multipole monolithic magnets (MMMs) has been developed. The LCVGU is free from the heavy mechanical frames, which is a fundamental element specific to conventional variable-gap undulators (VGUs) because of a strong attractive force, and thus the cost and time for construction and installation are expected to be significantly reduced; the MMMs counteract the strong attractive force in a cost-effective manner. Results of mechanical tests and magnetic-field measurements of two prototype LCVGUs equipped with the proposed force cancellation system have revealed the comparable performance with the conventional VGUs.

Radiation-induced magnetization reversal causing a large flux loss in undulator permanent magnets.

We report an unexpectedly large flux loss observed in permanent magnets in one of the undulators operated in SACLA, the x-ray free electron laser facility in Japan. Characterizations of individual magnets extracted from the relevant undulator have revealed that the flux loss was caused by a homogeneous magnetization reversal extending over a wide area, but not by demagnetization of individual magnets damaged by radiation. We show that the estimated flux-loss rate is much higher than what is reported in previous papers, and its distribution is much more localized to the upstream side. Results of numerical and experimental studies carried out to validate the magnetization reversal and quantify the flux loss are presented, together with possible countermeasures against rapid degradation of the undulator performance.

Using irregularly spaced current peaks to generate an isolated attosecond X-ray pulse in free-electron lasers.

A method is proposed to generate an isolated attosecond X-ray pulse in free-electron lasers, using irregularly spaced current peaks induced in an electron beam through interaction with an intense short-pulse optical laser. In comparison with a similar scheme proposed in a previous paper, the irregular arrangement of current peaks significantly improves the contrast between the main and satellite pulses, enhances the attainable peak power and simplifies the accelerator layout. Three different methods are proposed for this purpose and achievable performances are computed under realistic conditions. Numerical simulations carried out with the best configuration show that an isolated 7.7 keV X-ray pulse with a peak power of 1.7 TW and pulse length of 70 as can be generated. In this particular example, the contrast is improved by two orders of magnitude and the peak power is enhanced by a factor of three, when compared with the previous scheme.

Spectrum splitting for fast polarization switching of undulator radiation.

A simple scheme to quickly switch the polarity of circular radiation is proposed, which is based on spectrum splitting of undulator radiation. In this scheme, two helical undulators with opposite helicities are placed tandem in one straight section, both of which are divided into several segments. The optical phases between segments are tuned so that light waves from one of the two undulators are out of phase, while those from the other are in phase. Then the radiation spectrum of the former is split and the intensity at the fundamental photon energy vanishes. As a consequence, the monochromated photon beam at the fundamental energy is circularly polarized with the helicity specified by the in-phase undulator, which can be quickly flipped by tuning the optical phase. Numerical calculations carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme show that a relatively high degree of circular polarization is expected if the angular acceptance of the beamline is not too large.