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The performance of a free electron laser (FEL) using a low-power extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pulse as an input seed is investigated. The parameters are appropriate for 30 nm seeds produced from high-power Ti:Sa pulses using high harmonic generation schemes. It is found that, for reasonable beam parameters, robust FEL performance can be obtained. Both time-independent and time-dependent simulations are performed for varying system parameters using the GENESIS simulation code. A comparison is made with a two-stage harmonic FEL that is seeded by a high-power Ti:Sa pulse.

Energy modulation of the electron beam after the interaction with the laser field in the wiggler magnet can be calculated using interference of the laser field and the field of spontaneous emission in the far field region of wiggler radiation. Quite often this approach gives a deeper insight on the process than traditional calculations where the effect of the laser field on the electron energy is integrated along the electron trajectory in the wiggler. We demonstrate it by showing the agreement between the analytical model and the experiment involving wiggler scan measurements with large detuning from the FEL resonance producing more than one order of magnitude variations in the amplitude of the energy modulation. The high sensitivity was achieved using the THz radiation from a sub-mm dip in the electron density that energy modulated electrons leave behind while propagating along the storage ring lattice. All measurements were performed at the BESSY-II electron storage ring.

We describe a technique for the generation of an isolated burst of X-ray radiation with a duration of ~; 100 attoseconds in a free electron laser (FEL) employing self-amplified spontaneous emission. Our scheme relies on an initial interaction of the electron beam with an ultra-short laser pulse in a one-period wiggler followed by compression in a dispersive section. The result of this interaction is to create a sub-femtosecond slice of the electron beam with enhanced growth rates for FEL amplification. After many gain lengths through the FEL undulator, the X-ray output from this slice dominates the radiation of the entire bunch. We consider the impact of various effects on the efficiency of this technique. Different configurations are considered in order to realize various timing structures for the resulting radiation.

We describe a technique for the generation of a solitary attosecond X-ray pulse in a free electron laser (FEL), via a process of self-amplified spontaneous emission. In this method, electrons experience an energy modulation upon interacting with laser pulses having a duration of a few cycles within single-period wiggler magnets. Two consecutive modulation sections, followed by compression in a dispersive section, are used to obtain a single, sub-femtosecond spike in the electron peak current. This region of the electron beam experiences an enhanced growth rate for FEL amplification. After propagation through a long undulator, this current spike emits a ~;250 attosecond X-ray pulse whose intensity dominates the X-ray emission from the rest of the electron bunch.

Femtosecond synchrotron pulses of 13 MeV relative to the nominal 1.9 GeV beam energy. Femtosecond pulses are effectively isolated from the long-pulse background using the transverse dispersion of the storage ring in combination with an x-ray imaging optic and a pair of slits to achieve a signal/background ratio of ~;1.

Our scientific understanding of the static or time-averaged structure of condensed matter on the atomic scale has been dramatically advanced by direct structural measurements using x-ray techniques and modern synchrotron sources. Of course the structure of condensed matter is not static, and to understanding the behavior of condensed matter at the most fundamental level requires structural measurements on the time scale on which atoms move. The evolution of condensed-matter structure, via the making and breaking of chemical bonds and the rearrangement of atoms, occurs on the fundamental time scale of a vibrational period, ~;100 fs. Atomic motion and structural dynamics on this time scale ultimately determine the course of phase transitions in solids, the kinetic pathways of chemical reactions, and even the efficiency and function of biological processes. The integration of x-ray measurement techniques, a high-brightness femtosecond x-ray source, femtosecond lasers, and stroboscopic pump-probe techniques will provide the unique capability to address fundamental scientific questions in solid-state physics, chemistry, AMO physics, and biology involving structural dynamics. In this paper, we review recent work in ultrafast x-ray science at the ALS including time-resolved diffraction measurements and efforts to develop dedicated beamlines for femtosecond x-ray experiments.

An important frontier in ultrafast science is the application of femtosecond x-ray pulses to the study of structural dynamics in condensed matter. We show that femtosecond laser pulses can be used to generate high-brightness, tunable, femtosecond x-ray pulses from a synchrotron. Performance of existing and proposed femtosecond x-ray beamlines at the Advanced Light Source synchrotron are discussed.