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We review the current status of the theoretical and experimental efforts to develop high-gain free-electron lasers for generating x-ray beams. Such a source will provide ten orders of magnitude brightness enhancement and two orders of magnitude time resolution compared to the current third-generation sources. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a free-electron laser (FEL) operating in the high-gain regime including the mechanism of self-induced harmonic generation (SIHG). We discuss the mechanism leading to saturation at these higher harmonics and analyze the effect of beam quality variations. Finally, we study an undulator configuration that allows the saturated harmonic power to become comparable with that of the fundamental. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wakefield effects due to internal vacuum chamber roughness may increase the electron beam energy spread and so have become an immediate concern for future x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) project developments such as the SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) and the DESY TESLA x-ray FEL. We describe a possible experiment to characterize the effects of surface roughness on an FEL driven by self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) operation. Although the specific system described is not completely identical to the above-proposed projects, much useful scaling information could be obtained and applied to shorter wavelength systems. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]