Study on the UV FEL single-shot damage threshold of an Au thin film.

The damage threshold of an Au-coated flat mirror, one of the reflective optics installed on the FEL-2 beamline of the Dalian Coherent Light Source, China, upon far-UV free-electron laser irradiation is evaluated. The surface of the coating is characterized by profilometer and optical microscope. A theoretical approach of the phenomenon is also presented, by application of conventional single-pulse damage threshold calculations, a one-dimensional thermal diffusion model, as well as finite-element analysis with ANSYS.

Shape optimization design of the offset mirror in FEL-1 beamline at S3FEL.

Nowadays, due to the advantages of high peak power, high average power, ultra-short pulse, and fully coherent characteristics, the high-repetition-rate free-electron laser (FEL) is thriving in many countries around the world. The thermal load caused by high-repetition-rate FEL poses a great challenge to the mirror surface shape. Especially in the case of high average power, how to perfectly control the mirror shape to maintain the coherence of the beam has become a difficult problem in beamline design. In addition to multi-segment PZT, when multiple resistive heaters are used to compensate for the mirror shape, the heat flux (or power) generated by each heater must be optimized to obtain sub-nanometer height error. This article establishes MHCKF model for the mirror surface deformation under the combined effect of the mirror initial deformation, the thermal deformation caused by X-rays, and the deformation compensated by multiple heaters. By searching the perturbation term in the mathematical model, the least squares solution of the heat fluxes generated by all heaters can be obtained. This method can not only set multiple constraints on the heat fluxes but also quickly obtain their values when minimizing the mirror shape error. It overcomes the problem of time-consuming optimization processes encountered by traditional finite element analysis software, especially in the context of multi-parameter optimization. This article focuses on the offset mirror in the FEL-1 beamline at S3FEL. Using this method, the optimization of 25 heat fluxes generated by all resistive heaters was accomplished within a few seconds utilizing an ordinary laptop. The results indicate that the height error RMS decreased from 40 nm to 0.009 nm, and the slope error RMS reduced from 192.7nrad to 0.4nrad. Wave-optics simulations show that the wavefront quality has been significantly improved. In addition, some factors affecting mirror shape error, such as the number of heaters, higher repetition rate, film coefficient, and the length of copper tube, were analyzed. The results show that the MHCKF model and optimization algorithm can effectively solve the optimization problem of compensating for the mirror shape with multiple heaters.

Fixed target combined with spectral mapping: approaching 100% hit rates for serial crystallography.

The advent of ultrafast highly brilliant coherent X-ray free-electron laser sources has driven the development of novel structure-determination approaches for proteins, and promises visualization of protein dynamics on sub-picosecond timescales with full atomic resolution. Significant efforts are being applied to the development of sample-delivery systems that allow these unique sources to be most efficiently exploited for high-throughput serial femtosecond crystallography. Here, the next iteration of a fixed-target crystallography chip designed for rapid and reliable delivery of up to 11 259 protein crystals with high spatial precision is presented. An experimental scheme for predetermining the positions of crystals in the chip by means of in situ spectroscopy using a fiducial system for rapid, precise alignment and registration of the crystal positions is presented. This delivers unprecedented performance in serial crystallography experiments at room temperature under atmospheric pressure, giving a raw hit rate approaching 100% with an effective indexing rate of approximately 50%, increasing the efficiency of beam usage and allowing the method to be applied to systems where the number of crystals is limited.

Mapping atomic motions with ultrabright electrons: towards fundamental limits in space-time resolution.

The long held objective of directly observing atomic motions during the defining moments of chemistry has been achieved based on ultrabright electron sources that have given rise to a new field of atomically resolved structural dynamics. This class of experiments requires not only simultaneous sub-atomic spatial resolution with temporal resolution on the 100 femtosecond time scale but also has brightness requirements approaching single shot atomic resolution conditions. The brightness condition is in recognition that chemistry leads generally to irreversible changes in structure during the experimental conditions and that the nanoscale thin samples needed for electron structural probes pose upper limits to the available sample or "film" for atomic movies. Even in the case of reversible systems, the degree of excitation and thermal effects require the brightest sources possible for a given space-time resolution to observe the structural changes above background. Further progress in the field, particularly to the study of biological systems and solution reaction chemistry, requires increased brightness and spatial coherence, as well as an ability to tune the electron scattering cross-section to meet sample constraints. The electron bunch density or intensity depends directly on the magnitude of the extraction field for photoemitted electron sources and electron energy distribution in the transverse and longitudinal planes of electron propagation. This work examines the fundamental limits to optimizing these parameters based on relativistic electron sources using re-bunching cavity concepts that are now capable of achieving 10 femtosecond time scale resolution to capture the fastest nuclear motions. This analysis is given for both diffraction and real space imaging of structural dynamics in which there are several orders of magnitude higher space-time resolution with diffraction methods. The first experimental results from the Relativistic Electron Gun for Atomic Exploration (REGAE) are given that show the significantly reduced multiple electron scattering problem in this regime, which opens up micron scale systems, notably solution phase chemistry, to atomically resolved structural dynamics.