• E.R. Harms, H.T. Edwards
  Fermilab, Batavia
• M. Hüning, E. Vogel
  DESY, Hamburg

A Third Hamonic/3.9 GHz superconducting RF module was recently installed in the FLASH facility at DESY. Ultra short bunches with high peak current are required to efficiently create high brilliance coherent light and these can be produced by means of a 2-stage transverse magnetic chicane bunch compression scheme coupled with off-crest acceleration. The long bunch tails and reduced peak current which result from the nonlinearities of the RF since wave can be eliminated by the addition of a 3rd harmonic RF system. Such a system can also allow for the creation of uniform intensity bunches of adjustable length necessary for seeded operation. We present here a summary of commissioning and early operating experience of the newly-installed device.