• C. Sung, C. Joshi, C. Pellegrini, J.E. Ralph, S. Reiche, J.B. Rosenzweig, S. Tochitsky
  UCLA, Los Angeles, California

The lack of a high-power, relatively low-cost and compact terahertz (THz) source in the range 0.3-3x10(12) Hz is the major obstacle in progressing on biomedical and material studies at these wavelengths. A high-gain, single pass seeded FEL technique allows to obtain high power THz pulses of a high spectral brightness. We describe an ongoing project at the Neptune laboratory where a ~ 1kW seed pulse generated by difference frequency mixing of CO2 laser lines in a GaAs nonlinear crystal is injected into a waveguide FEL amplifier. The FEL is driven by a 5 ps (r.m.s) long electron pulse with a peak current up to 100A provided by a regular S-band photoinjector. According to 3-D, time dependent simulations, up to ~ 10 MW THz power can be generated using a 2 meter long planar undulator. By mixing different pairs of CO2 laser lines and matching resonant energy of the electron beam, tunability in the 100-400 mm range is expected. A tunable Fabri-Perot interferometer will be used to select a high-power 5ps THz pulse. This pulse is synchronized both with 1mm (photoinjector driver) and 10 mm lasers allowing time resolved pump-probe measurements.

• G. Andonian, A.Y. Murokh, C. Pellegrini, S. Reiche, J.B. Rosenzweig, G. Travish
  UCLA, Los Angeles, California
• M. Babzien, I. Ben-Zvi, V. Litvinenko, V. Yakimenko
  BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York
• I. Boscolo, S. Cialdi, A.F. Flacco
  INFN-Milano, Milano
• M. Ferrario, L. Palumbo, C. Vicario
  INFN/LNF, Frascati (Roma)
• J.Y. Huang
  POSTECH, Pohang, Kyungbuk

The VISA II experiment entails use of a chirped beam to drive a high gain SASE FEL. The output radiation is diagnosed with a modified frequency resolved optical gating (FROG) technique. Sextupoles are implemented to correct the lonigtudinal aberrations affecting the high energy spread chirped beam during transport to the undulator. The double differential energy spectrum is measured with a pair of slits and a set of gratings. In this paper, we report on start-to-end simulations, radiation diagnostics, as well as intial experimental results; experimental methods are described.

• O. Williams, A. Doyuran, R.J. England, C. Joshi, J. Lim, J.B. Rosenzweig, S. Tochitsky, G. Travish
  UCLA, Los Angeles, California

An Inverse Compton Scattering (ICS) experiment investigating the polarized harmonic production in the nonlinear regime has begun which will utilize the existing terawatt CO2 laser system and 15 MeV photoinjector in the Neptune Laboratory at UCLA. A major motivation for a source of high brightness polarized x-rays is the production of polarized positrons for use in future linear collider experiments. Analytical calculations have been performed to predict the angular and frequency spectrums for various polarizations and different scattering angles. Currently, the experiment is running and we report the set-up and initial results. The advantages and limitations of using a high laser vector potential, ao, in an ICS-based polarized positron source are expected to be revealed with further measurement of the harmonic spectrum and angular characteristics.

• S. Reiche, C. Joshi, C. Pellegrini, J.B. Rosenzweig, S. Tochitsky
  UCLA, Los Angeles, California
• G. Shvets
  The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

Funding: The work was supported by the DOE Contract No. DE-FG03-92ER40727.

Free-Electron Laser in the THz range can be used to generate high output power radiation or to modulate the electron beam longitudinally on the radiation wavelength scale. Microbunching on the scale of 1-5 THz is of particular importance for potential phase-locking of a modulated electron beam to a laser-driven plasma accelerating structure. However the lack of a seeding source for the FEL at this spectral range limits operation to a SASE FEL only, which denies a subpicosecond synchronization of the current modulation or radiation with an external laser source. One possibility to overcome this problem is to seed the FEL with two external laser beams, which difference (beatwave) frequency is matched to the resonant FEL frequency in the THz range. In this presentation we study feasibility of an experiment on laser beat-wave injection in the THz FEL considered at the UCLA Neptune Laboratory, where both a high brightness photoinjector and a two-wavelength, TW-class CO₂ laser system exist. By incorporating the energy modulation of the electron beam by the ponderomotive force of the beat-wave in a modified version of the time-dependent FEL code Genesis 1.3, the performance of a FEL at Neptune is simulated and analyzed.

• C. Pellegrini, J.B. Rosenzweig, G. Travish
  UCLA, Los Angeles, California
• V.A. Dolgashev, C.D. Nantista, S.G. Tantawi
  SLAC, Menlo Park, California

Funding: US Department of Energy

We describe a proposed high-gain FEL using an X-band microwave undulator and operating at a wavelength of about 0.5 μm. The FEL electron beam energy is 65 MeV. The beam is produced by the NLCTA X-band linac at SLAC, using an S-band high-brightness photoinjector. The undulator consists of a circular waveguide with an rf wave counter-propagating with respect to the electron beam. The undulator is powered with two high-power X-band klystrons and a dual-moded pulse compressor recently developed at SLAC. This system is capable of delivering flat-top rf pulses of up to 400 ns and a few hundred megawatts. The equivalent undulator period is 1.4 cm, the radius of the circular pipe is 1 cm, and the undulator parameter is about 0.4 for a helical undulator configuration, obtained using two cross-polarized TE modes, or larger for a planar configuration, using one rf polarization. The undulator is about four meters long. The FEL will reach saturation within this distance when operated in a SASE mode. We describe the FEL performance parameters, the undulator characteristics and tolerances. One main goal of the experiment is to demonstrate the feasibility of an rf undulator for high gain FELs.

• L. Palumbo
  Rome University La Sapienza, Roma
• D. Alesini, M. Bellaveglia, S. Bertolucci, M.E. Biagini, R. Boni, M. Boscolo, M. Castellano, A. Clozza, G. Di Pirro, A. Drago, A. Esposito, M. Ferrario, D. Filippetto, V. Fusco, A. Gallo, A. Ghigo, S. Guiducci, M.  Migliorati, A. Mostacci, L. Pellegrino, M.A. Preger, C. Sanelli, M. Serio, F. Sgamma, B. Spataro, A. Stella, F. Tazzioli, C. Vaccarezza, M. Vescovi, C. Vicario
  INFN/LNF, Frascati (Roma)
• F. Alessandria, A. Bacci
  INFN/LASA, Segrate (MI)
• F. Broggi, S. Cialdi, C. De Martinis, D. Giove, C. Maroli, M. Mauri, V. Petrillo, M. Rome, L. Serafini
  INFN-Milano, Milano
• L. Catani, E. Chiadroni, A. Cianchi, C. Schaerf
  INFN-Roma II, Roma
• F. Ciocci, G. Dattoli, A. Doria, F. Flora, G.P. Gallerano, L. Giannessi, E. Giovenale, G. Messina, P.L. Ottaviani, G. Parisi, L. Picardi, M. Quattromini, A. Renieri, C. Ronsivalle
  ENEA C.R. Frascati, Frascati (Roma)
• P. Emma
  SLAC, Menlo Park, California
• M. Mattioli
  Universita di Roma I La Sapienza, Roma
• P. Musumeci
  INFN-Roma, Roma
• S. Reiche, J.B. Rosenzweig
  UCLA, Los Angeles, California

The first phase of the SPARX project, now funded by MIUR (Research Department of Italian Government), is an R&D activity focused on developing techniques and critical components for future X-ray FEL facilities. This project is the natural extension of the activities under development within the ongoing SPARC collaboration. The aim is the generation of electron beams characterized by an ultra-high peak brightness with a linear accelerator based on the upgrade of the existing Frascati 800 MeV LINAC and to drive a single pass FEL experiment in the range of 3-5 nm, both in SASE and SEEDED FEL configurations, exploiting the use of superconducting and exotic undulator sections. In this paper we discuss the present status of the collaboration.