SOLEIL, Gif-sur-Yvette
Imagine Optic, Orsay
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York
LOA, Palaiseau
RIKEN/SPring-8, Hyogo
JASRI/SPring-8, Hyogo-ken
The VUV Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission of the SPring-8 Compact SASE Source (SCSS) Test Accelerator is characterized at different stages of amplification up to saturation [1]. Experimental measurements are performed by use of a VUV Hartmann wavefront sensor. This kind of sensor gives access to both intensity and phase profiles of the incoming beam. We characterize the mode selection when approaching the saturation regime of the FEL. Optical quality of the saturated SASE radiation is measured to be better than Lambda/5 PV and Lambda/22 rms (Lambda = 61.5 nm) depending on the machine optimization. Moreover, pointing of the beam as well as spatial structure, size and position of the source are retrieved and their shot-to-shot fluctuations investigated. Analytical [2] and numerical calculations [3], using SRW and GENESIS codes, show good agreement with the experimental measurements. All these elements are of crucial importance for a better understanding and optimization of the FEL and of course for user applications requiring a stable focused beam on their samples. We are grateful to the SCSS Test Accelerator Operation Group at RIKEN for continuous support in the course of the studies
[1] R. Bachelard et al., "Wavefront and Transverse Structure of the FEL Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission", to be submitted
[2] M. Xie, NIMA 445, 59(2000)
[3] O. Chubar et al., Proc. EPAC-98, 1177(1998)
University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford
DESY, Hamburg
Rostock University, Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Rostock
Czech Republic Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics, Prague
LLNL, Livermore, California
Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland
GoLP, Lisbon
IOQ, Jena
Rostock University, Rostock
UPMC, Paris
LBNL, Berkeley, California
IP PAS, Warsaw
Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat
FOM Rijnhuizen, Nieuwegein
SLAC, Menlo Park, California
UCB, Berkeley, California
SOLEIL, Gif-sur-Yvette
European X-ray Free Electron Laser Project Team, c/o DESY, Hamburg
FSU Jena, Jena
We report for the first time saturable absorption in the soft x-ray regime: by photoionizing L-shell core electrons we observed on a 15fs timescale a multifold increase of transmission through an aluminium foil. While saturable absorption is a phenomenon readily seen in the optical and infrared wavelengths, it has never been observed in a core electron transition due to the short lifetimes of the created excited states and the high intensities of the soft x-rays that are needed. The experiments were performed at the XUV Free Electron Laser FLASH and used record high intensities. After the FEL pulse has passed, the aluminum sample is in an exotic state where all the aluminum atoms have a L-shell hole, and the conduction band has a 9eV temperature, while the atoms are still on their crystallographic positions. Subsequently, Auger decay heats the material to Warm Dense Matter condition, at 20eV temperatures. The saturable absorption allows for a very homogeneous and efficient heating. Therefore the method is an ideal candidate to study homogeneous Warm Dense Matter, highly relevant to planetary science, astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion.