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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records

Emittance-Exchange-Based High Harmonic Generation Scheme for a Short-Wavelength Free Electron Laser

Generation of short-wavelength radiation by a free-electron laser using up-frequency conversion of an electron bunch density modulation is currently an area of active research. We propose a new scheme for producing the longitudinal electron bunch density modulation similar to the recently proposed echo-enabled harmonic generation but based on an emittance exchange beam line and a multislit mask. Beam line analysis and start-to-end simulation are presented.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Laser Phase Errors in Seeded Free Electron Lasers

Harmonic seeding of free electron lasers has attracted significant attention as a method for producing transform-limited pulses in the soft x-ray region. Harmonic multiplication schemes extend seeding to shorter wavelengths, but also amplify the spectral phase errors of the initial seed laser, and may degrade the pulse quality and impede production of transform-limited pulses. In this paper we consider the effect of seed laser phase errors in high gain harmonic generation and echo-enabled harmonic generation. We use simulations to confirm analytical results for the case of linearly chirped seed lasers, and extend the results for arbitrary seed laser envelope and phase.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Generating femtosecond X-ray pulses using an emittance-spoiling foil in free-electron lasers

Generation of femtosecond to sub-femtosecond pulses is attracting much attention in X-ray free-electron laser user community. One method is to use a slotted, emittance-spoiling foil which was proposed before (P. Emma et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 074801 (2004)) and has been widely used at the Linac Coherent Light Source. Direct experimental characterization of the slotted-foil performance was previously unfeasible due to a lack of appropriate diagnostics. With a recently installed X-band radio-frequency transverse deflector, we are able to characterize the electron bunch spoiling effect and X-ray pulse when using the slotted foil. We show that few-femtosecond X-ray pulses are generated with flexible control of the single-pulse duration or double-pulse separation with comparison to the theoretical model.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Following an electron bunch for free electron laser

A video artist's ultra-slow-motion impression of an APEX-style electron gun firing a continuous train of electron bunches into a superconducting linear accelerator (in reality this would happen a million times a second). As they approach the speed of light the bunches contract, maintaining beam quality. After acceleration, the electron bunches are diverted into one or more undulators, the key components of free electron lasers. Oscillating back and forth in the changing magnetic field, they create beams of structured x-ray pulses. Before entering the experimental areas the electron bunches are diverted to a beam dump. (Animation created by Illumina Visual, http://www.illuminavisual.com/, for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Music for this excerpt, "Feeling Dark (Behind The Mask)" is by 7OOP3D http://ccmixter.org/files/7OOP3D/29126 and is licensed under a Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Dispersion-Based Fresh-Slice Scheme for Free-Electron Lasers

The fresh-slice technique improved the performance of several self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron laser schemes by granting selective control on the temporal lasing slice without spoiling the other electron bunch slices. So far, the implementation has required a special insertion device to create the beam yaw, called a dechirper. Finally, we demonstrate a novel scheme to enable fresh-slice operation based on electron energy chirp and orbit dispersion that can be implemented at any free-electron laser facility without additional hardware.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Reversible Electron Beam Heating for Suppression of Microbunching Instabilities at Free-Electron Lasers

The presence of microbunching instabilities due to the compression of high-brightness electron beams at existing and future x-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) results in restrictions on the attainable lasing performance and renders beam imaging with optical transition radiation impossible. The instability can be suppressed by introducing additional energy spread, i.e., heating the electron beam, as demonstrated by the successful operation of the laser heater system at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The increased energy spread is typically tolerable for self-amplified spontaneous emission FELs but limits the effectiveness of advanced FEL schemes such as seeding. In this paper, we present a reversible electron beam heating system based on two transverse deflecting radio-frequency structures (TDSs) upstream and downstream of a magnetic bunch compressor chicane. The additional energy spread is introduced in the first TDS, which suppresses the microbunching instability, and then is eliminated in the second TDS. We show the feasibility of the microbunching gain suppression based on calculations and simulations including the effects of coherent synchrotron radiation. Acceptable electron beam and radio-frequency jitter are identified, and inherent options for diagnostics and on-line monitoring of the electron beam's longitudinal phase space are discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Low-Charge, Hard X-Ray Free Electron Laser Driven with an X-Band Injector and Accelerator

After the successful operation of the Free Electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH) and the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), soft and hard x-ray free electron lasers (FELs) are being built, designed, or proposed at many accelerator laboratories. Acceleration employing lower frequency rf cavities, ranging from L-band to C-band, is usually adopted in these designs. In the first stage bunch compression, higher-frequency harmonic rf system is employed to linearize the beam's longitudinal phase space, which is nonlinearly chirped during the lower frequency rf acceleration process. In this paper, a hard x-ray FEL design using an all X-band accelerator at 11.424 GHz (from photocathode rf gun to linac end) is presented, without the assistance of any harmonic rf linearization. It achieves LCLS-like performance at low charge using X-band linac drivers, which is more versatile, efficient, and compact than ones using S-band or C-band rf technology. It employs initially 42 microns long (rms), low-charge (10 pC) electron bunches from an X-band photoinjector. An overall bunch compression ratio of roughly 100 times is proposed in a two stage bunch compressor system. The start-to-end macroparticle 3D simulation employing several computer codes is presented in this paper, where space charge, wakefields, and incoherent and coherent synchrotron radiation effects are included. Employing an undulator with a short period of 1.5 cm, a Genesis FEL simulation shows successful lasing at a wavelength of 0.15 nm with a pulse length of 2 fs and a power saturation length as short as 20 meters, which is equivalent to LCLS low-charge mode. Its overall length of both accelerators and undulators is 180 meters (much shorter than the effective LCLS overall length of 1230 meters, including an accelerator length of 1100 meters and an undulator length of 130 meters), which makes it possible to be built in places where only limited space is available.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Nearly Free Electron Superatom States of Carbon and Boron Nitride Nanotubes

By first-principles theory we study the nearly free electron (NFE) states of carbon and boron nitride nanotubes. In addition to the well-known π* bands, we found a series of one-dimensional (1D) NFE bands with on-axis spatial distributions, which resemble atomic orbitals projected onto a plane. These bands are 1D counterparts of the recently discovered superatom orbitals of 0D fullerenes. In addition to the previously reported lowest energy NFE state with the angular quantum number l = 0 corresponding to s atomic orbital character, we find higher energy NFE bands with l > 0 corresponding to the p, d, etc., orbitals. We show that these atom-like states of nanotubes originate from the many-body screening, which is responsible for the image potential of the parent two-dimensional (2D) graphene or BN sheets. With a model potential that combines the short-range exchange-correlation and the long-range Coulomb interactions, we reproduce the energies and radial wave function profiles of the NFE states from the density functional theory calculations. When the nanotube radius exceeds the radial extent on NFE states, the NFE state energies converge to those of image potential states of the parent 2D molecular sheets. To explore possible applications in molecular electronics that take advantage of the NFE properties of nanotube building blocks, we investigate the modification of NFE states by transverse electric fields, alkali metal encapsulation, and lateral and concentric nanotube dimerization.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Evidence of High Harmonics from Echo-Enabled Harmonic Generation for Seeding X-ray Free Electron Lasers

Echo-enabled harmonic generation free electron lasers hold great promise for the generation of fully coherent radiation in x-ray wavelengths. Here we report the first evidence of high harmonics from the echo-enabled harmonic generation technique in the realistic scenario where the laser energy modulation is comparable to the beam slice energy spread. In this experiment, coherent radiation at the seventh harmonic of the second seed laser is generated when the energy modulation amplitude is about 2-3 times the slice energy spread. The experiment confirms the underlying physics of echo-enabled harmonic generation and may have a strong impact on emerging seeded x-ray free electron lasers that are capable of generating laserlike x rays which will advance many areas of science.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Femtosecond X-ray Pulse Temporal Characterization in Free-Electron Lasers Using a Transverse Deflector

We propose a novel method to characterize the temporal duration and shape of femtosecond x-ray pulses in a free-electron laser (FEL) by measuring the time-resolved electron-beam energy loss and energy spread induced by the FEL process, with a transverse radio-frequency deflector located after the undulator. Its merits are simplicity, high resolution, wide diagnostic range, and non-invasive to user operation. When the system is applied to the Linac Coherent Light Source, the first hard x-ray free-electron laser in the world, it can provide single-shot measurements on the electron beam and x-ray pulses with a resolution on the order of 1-2 femtoseconds rms.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Batch crystallization of rhodopsin for structural dynamics using an X-ray free-electron laser

A new batch preparation method is presented for high-density micrometre-sized crystals of the G protein-coupled receptor rhodopsin for use in time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography at an X-ray free-electron laser using a liquid jet. Rhodopsin is a membrane protein from the G protein-coupled receptor family. Together with its ligand retinal, it forms the visual pigment responsible for night vision. In order to perform ultrafast dynamics studies, a time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography method is required owing to the nonreversible activation of rhodopsin. In such an approach, microcrystals in suspension are delivered into the X-ray pulses of an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) after a precise photoactivation delay. Here, a millilitre batch production of high-density microcrystals was developed by four methodical conversion steps starting from known vapour-diffusion crystallization protocols: (i) screening the low-salt crystallization conditions preferred for serial crystallography by vapour diffusion, (ii) optimization of batch crystallization, (iii) testing the crystal size and quality using second-harmonic generation (SHG) imaging and X-ray powder diffraction and (iv) production of millilitres of rhodopsin crystal suspension in batches for serial crystallography tests; these crystals diffracted at an XFEL at the Linac Coherent Light Source using a liquid-jet setup.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗