• H. Schlarb, V. Ayvazyan, F. Ludwig, D. Noelle, B. Schmidt, S. Simrock
  DESY, Hamburg
• F.X. Kaertner
  MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• A. Winter
  Uni HH, Hamburg

The control and stabilization of the longitudinal beam profile and the bunch arrival time in linac driven VUV or X-ray Free-Electron Lasers require special effort and new developments in the fields of low level RF controls, global synchronization systems and longitudinal beam feedbacks. In this paper we describe the required upgrades for the VUV-FEL at DESY to synchronize the FEL pulse and optical lasers to the level of hundred femtoseconds (FWHM).

• A. Winter, P. Schmuser, A. Winter
  Uni HH, Hamburg
• J. Chen, F.O. Ilday, F.X. Kaertner, J. Kim
  MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• H. Schlarb
  DESY, Hamburg

Fourth-generation light sources, such as the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) require timing signals distributed over distances of several kilometers with a stability in the order of femtoseconds. A promising approach is the use of a mode-locked laser that generates sub-picosecond pulses which are distributed in timing stabilized optical fiber links. A good candidate for a laser master oscillator (LMO) is a mode-locked Erbium-doped fiber laser, featuring extremely low phase noise far from the carrier. Results on the development of the LMO locked to an external reference microwave oscillator to suppress low frequency jitter, the distribution via timing stabilized optical fiber links and the reconversion of the optical pulses to a low phase noise microwave RF signals with overall femtosecond stability are presented.

• H. Delsim-Hashemi, O. Grimm, J. Rossbach, H. Schlarb, B. Schmidt, P. Schmuser
  DESY, Hamburg
• A.F.G. van der Meer
  FOM Rijnhuizen, Nieuwegein

Funding: DESY

FEL facilities are pushing to achieve higher peak currents mainly by means of compressing bunches longitudinally. This process defines a machine parameter that has to be fine-tuned empirically. Among the operational types of diagnostic tools for longitudinal phase-space are those based on IR spectroscopy. The most commonly used IR spectrometers at the FEL facilities are operating in the scanning mode and are not fast enough to be applicable for monitoring bunch compression. On the other hand, any non-scanning spectrometer may suffer from the low intensity that is available from coherent IR radiation in short time intervals in different wavelengths. The proposed "Single Shot Spectrometer" is based on using gratings as dispersive elements. Pioneering tests with a transmission grating have shown the feasibility of the concept. In a second step, a version with "Reflective Blazed Grating" will be tested and should allow getting the maximum available signal for the whole spectrum and improved resolution. Parallel to the study of optical parts, an array of pyroelectric detectors with integrated multi-channel readout is under development.

• M. Huening, A. Bolzmann, H. Schlarb
  DESY, Hamburg
• J.C. Frisch, D.J. McCormick, M.C. Ross, T.J. Smith
  SLAC, Menlo Park, California
• J. Rossbach
  Uni HH, Hamburg

The design of the VUV-FEL at DESY demands bunch lengths in the order of 50 fs and below.For the diagnostic of such very short bunches a transverse deflecting RF structure (LOLA) has been installed which streaks the beam according to the longitudinal distribution. Tests in the VUV-FEL yielded a rich substructure of the bunches. The most pronounced peak in the has a rms length of approximately 50 fs during FEL operation and below 20 fs FWHM at maximum compression. Depending on the transverse focusing a resolution between 10^-50 fs was achieved.

• M. Roehrs, A. Bolzmann, M. Huening, H. Schlarb
  DESY, Hamburg
• K. Honkavaara
  Uni HH, Hamburg

Among the very critical parameters for the operation of the VUV-FEL at DESY are the slice-emmittance and beam optics matching of the current peak in the electron bunch. Conventional tools for measuring the beam size are sensitive to the projected properties of the bunch only and hence suffer from mixing of different parts of the bunch. A combination of streaking with a transverse deflecting rf structure (LOLA) and a quadrupole scan allowed to measure the spike separate from the rest of the bunch. Indeed significant differences in terms of emmittance and optical functions have been found.

• A. Winter, H. Schlarb
  DESY, Hamburg
• dc. Cheever, J. Chen, F.O. Ilday, F.X. Kaertner, J. Kim, D. Wang, T. Zwart
  MIT, Middleton, Massachusetts
• P. Schmuser
  Uni HH, Hamburg

X-ray pulses with a pulse duration of down to 30 fs FWHM or even sub-fs are desired for various experiments planned at next generation free electron lasers, such as the European XFEL. A synchronization of the probe system in the experimental area to the x-ray pulses with stability on the order of the pulse width is highly desirable for these experiments. This requirement translates to distributing an ultra-stable timing signal to various subsystems of the machine and the experimental area to provide synchronization at the fs level over distances of up to several kilometers. A few years ago, a timing and synchronization system providing stability to the fs level was unthinkable. Recent advances in the field of ultra-short pulse lasers have made optical synchronization systems with such a precision feasible. This talk will focus on an optical approach using a train of ultra-short pulses distributed through optical fiber links. The timing information is contained in the precise repetition rate. First results of such a system operating in an accelerator environment will be reported.