Generation of time-synchronized two-color X-ray free-electron laser pulses using phase shifters.

To optimize the intensity of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs), phase shifters, oriented in phase with the phases of the XFEL pulse and electron beam, are typically installed at undulator lines. Although a π-offset between the phases (i.e., an "out-of-phase" configuration) can suppress the XFEL intensity at resonant frequencies, it can also generate a side-band spectrum, which results in a two-color XFEL pulse; the dynamics of such a pulse can be described using the spontaneous radiation or low gain theory. This attributes of this two-color XFEL pulse can be amplified (log-scale amplification) through an undulator line with out-of-phase phase shifters. In this study, the features of two-color XFEL pulses were evaluated through theory, simulations and experiments performed at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free Electron Laser. The XFEL gain slope and energy separation between the two-color spectral peaks were consistent through theoretical expectation, and the results of simulation and experiment. The experimentally determined two-color XFEL pulse energy was 250 µJ at a photon energy of 12.38 keV with a separation of 60 eV.

Statistical analysis of hard X-ray radiation at the PAL-XFEL facility performed by Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry.

A Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry experiment based on second-order correlations was performed at the PAL-XFEL facility. The statistical properties of the X-ray radiation were studied within this experiment. Measurements were performed at the NCI beamline at 10 keV photon energy under various operation conditions: self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), SASE with a monochromator, and self-seeding regimes at 120 pC, 180 pC and 200 pC electron bunch charge. Statistical analysis showed short average pulse duration from 6 fs to 9 fs depending on the operational conditions. A high spatial degree of coherence of about 70-80% was determined in the spatial domain for the SASE beams with the monochromator and self-seeding regime of operation. The obtained values describe the statistical properties of the beams generated at the PAL-XFEL facility.

Time-resolved resonant elastic soft x-ray scattering at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free Electron Laser.

Resonant elastic x-ray scattering has been widely employed for exploring complex electronic ordering phenomena, such as charge, spin, and orbital order, in particular, in strongly correlated electronic systems. In addition, recent developments in pump-probe x-ray scattering allow us to expand the investigation of the temporal dynamics of such orders. Here, we introduce a new time-resolved Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering (tr-RSXS) endstation developed at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free Electron Laser (PAL-XFEL). This endstation has an optical laser (wavelength of 800 nm plus harmonics) as the pump source. Based on the commissioning results, the tr-RSXS at PAL-XFEL can deliver a soft x-ray probe (400 eV-1300 eV) with a time resolution of ∼100 fs without jitter correction. As an example, the temporal dynamics of a charge density wave on a high-temperature cuprate superconductor is demonstrated.

Stripline beam position monitor for X-ray free electron laser of Pohang Accelerator Laboratory.

Beam position monitors (BPMs) are important instruments even in the case of an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL) finished the construction of an XFEL (PAL-XFEL) in 2015, and new stripline BPMs were installed in PAL-XFEL. New BPMs were designed to have a strong signal and a high resolution. In addition, the impedance matching was considered to reduce a signal reflection. These features of the BPM design were confirmed with a simulation study as well. Fabricated BPMs were tested by using a wire test stand. Two-dimensional position errors and offsets were measured to select best BPMs for PAL-XFEL. Finally, a real beam test was tried to check the BPM performance and a better resolution than the requirement was obtained.

Hard X-ray self-seeding commissioning at PAL-XFEL.

A wake monochromator based on a large-area diamond single crystal for hard X-ray self-seeding has been successfully installed and commissioned in the hard X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory with international collaboration. For this commissioning, the self-seeding was demonstrated with a low bunch charge (40 pC) and the nominal bunch charge (180 pC) of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) operation. The FEL pulse lengths were estimated as 7 fs and 29.5 fs, respectively. In both cases, the average spectral brightness increased by more than three times compared with the SASE mode. The self-seeding experiment was demonstrated for the first time using a crystal with a thickness of 30 µm, and a narrow bandwidth of 0.22 eV (full width at half-maximum) was obtained at 8.3 keV, which confirmed the functionality of a crystal with such a small thickness. In the nominal bunch-charge self-seeding experiment, the histogram of the intensity integrated over a 1 eV bandwidth showed a well defined Gaussian profile, which is evidence of the saturated FEL and a minimal electron-energy jitter (∼1.2 × 10-4) effect. The corresponding low photon-energy jitter (∼2.4 × 10-4) of the SASE FEL pulse, which is two times lower than the Pierce parameter, enabled the seeding power to be maximized by maintaining the spectral overlap between SASE FEL gain and the monochromator.

FEL performance achieved at PAL-XFEL using a three-chicane bunch compression scheme.

PAL-XFEL utilizes a three-chicane bunch compression (3-BC) scheme (the very first of its kind in operation) for free-electron laser (FEL) operation. The addition of a third bunch compressor allows for more effective mitigation of coherent synchrotron radiation during bunch compression and an increased flexibility of system configuration. Start-to-end simulations of the effects of radiofrequency jitter on the electron beam performance show that using the 3-BC scheme leads to better performance compared with the two-chicane bunch compression scheme. Together with the high performance of the linac radiofrequency system, it enables reliable operation of PAL-XFEL with unprecedented stability in terms of arrival timing, pointing and intensity; an arrival timing jitter of better than 15 fs, a transverse position jitter of smaller than 10% of the photon beam size, and an FEL intensity jitter of smaller than 5% are consistently achieved.

Coherent synchrotron radiation monitor for microbunching instability in XFEL.

The microbunching instability is an important issue in an X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL). The intensity of the Free Electron Laser (FEL) can be reduced significantly by the microbunching instability so that the laser heater is widely used to reduce it. In the X-ray Free Electron Laser of the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL-XFEL), to directly monitor the microbunching instability, a visible charge coupled device camera was included into the coherent radiation monitor which uses a pyroelectric detector. It enabled us to measure the microbunching instability more clearly and optimize the FEL lasing in the PAL-XFEL.

Reconstruction of electron beam distribution using phase-retrieval algorithm.

The shapes of light sources such as electron beams can be reconstructed by inverse Fourier transformation of the complex degree of spatial coherency, which can be measured using Young's interferometer. The application of the phase-retrieval algorithm to reduce phase measurement errors in the complex degree of spatial coherency is numerically studied using an electron beam with an asymmetric distribution. This application is demonstrated with experimental data measured at the diagnostic beamline at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory.

Generation, transport, and detection of linear accelerator based femtosecond-terahertz pulses.

The generation and detection of intense terahertz (THz) radiation has drawn a great attention recently. The dramatically enhanced energy and peak electric field of the coherent THz radiation can be generated by coherent superposition of radiated fields emitted by ultrafast electron bunches. The femtosecond (fs)-THz beamline construction at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL) was completed in the end of 2009. The fs-THz beamline at PAL can supply ultrafast and intense fs-THz radiation from a 75 MeV linear accelerator. The radiation is expected to have frequency up to 3 THz (∼100 cm(-1)) and the pulse width of <200 fs with pulse energy up to 10 µJ. This intense THz source has great potential for applications in nonlinear optical phenomena and fields such as material science, biomedical science, chemistry, and physics, etc.

The coherency of synchrotron radiation at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory.

The coherency of the synchrotron radiation at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory has been investigated using Young's interferometer. The electron beam size can be measured precisely using the interferometer. An interferogram using 650 nm light at the diagnostics beamline at Pohang Light Source (PLS) has been measured to determine the electron beam distribution and the spatial coherence length. Interferograms obtained by numerical study are compared with experimental results in order to understand the measured data. From this comparison, the electron beam at PLS is revealed to be a Gaussian distribution with a standard deviation of 210 microm. The spatial coherency length of 650 nm light at PLS is measured to be 0.57 cm, and that of 0.1 nm light at PLS is predicted to be 0.88 microm by the same numerical study.