• S. Schulz, L.-G. Wißmann
  Uni HH, Hamburg
• V. R. Arsov
  PSI, Villigen
• M.K. Bock, M. Felber, P. Gessler, K.E. Hacker, F. Ludwig, H. Schlarb, B. Schmidt, J. Zemella
  DESY, Hamburg

After its upgrade, the free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) will start operating with an exchanged RF-gun driven by an improved photoinjector laser. Since the SASE FEL process is very sensitive to the RF gun phase it is highly desirable to implement phase stabilization feedback, which, in turn, requires an arrival-time stabilization of the photoinjector laser pulses. In this paper we report on the synchronization of the photoinjector laser system to the optical timing reference using an optical cross-correlation scheme. This enables not only the measurement of the timing jitter, but also the stabilization using adaptive feed-forward algorithms acting on an EOM incorporated in the laser's pulse train oscillator. First results from the commissioning and future plans for a feedback system are discussed.