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The design of a soft X-ray free-electron laser for the SXL project at the MAX IV Laboratory is presented., In this paper the design of the free-electron laser (FEL) in the SXL (Soft X-ray Laser) project at the MAX IV Laboratory is presented. The target performance parameters originate in a science case put forward by Swedish users and the SXL FEL is foreseen to be driven by the existing MAX IV 3 GeV linac. The SXL project is planned to be realized in different stages and in this paper the focus is on Phase 1, where the basic operation mode for the FEL will be SASE (self-amplified spontaneous emission), with an emphasis on short pulses. Simulation results for two linac bunches (high and low charge) with different pulse duration are illustrated, as well as the performance for two-color/two-pulses mode and power enhancement through tapering. Besides standard SASE and optical klystron configurations, the FEL setup is also tailored to allow for advanced seeding schemes operations. Finally possible upgrades that will be implemented in a second phase of the project are discussed.

The MAX IV Laboratory is a synchrotron radiation user facility located just outside the city of Lund, Sweden. The facility is made up of two storage rings, at 3 GeV and 1.5 GeV, respectively, and a linear accelerator, serving as a full-energy injector for the rings as well as a driver for the Short-Pulse Facility (SPF) located downstream of the extraction point to the 3 GeV ring. Recently, as part of the Soft X-ray Laser (SXL) project, a design study towards using the linac as a soft X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) driver was started. Part of the study is the design and commissioning of a diagnostics beamline based on a Transverse Deflecting Structure (TDS). Moreover, the PlasMAX collaboration is working towards using the MAX IV linac also for beam-driven plasma-wakefield (PWFA) experiments. Therefore, the design of the diagnostics beamline is being done to also accommodate an interaction chamber and final focusing, located upstream of the TDS. This proceeding details the current status of the beamline design and shows some preliminary single- and double-bunch current measurements.

The FemtoMAX beamline facilitates studies of the structural dynamics of materials on the femtosecond timescale. The first commissioning results are presented., The FemtoMAX beamline facilitates studies of the structural dynamics of materials. Such studies are of fundamental importance for key scientific problems related to programming materials using light, enabling new storage media and new manufacturing techniques, obtaining sustainable energy by mimicking photosynthesis, and gleaning insights into chemical and biological functional dynamics. The FemtoMAX beamline utilizes the MAX IV linear accelerator as an electron source. The photon bursts have a pulse length of 100 fs, which is on the timescale of molecular vibrations, and have wavelengths matching interatomic distances (Å). The uniqueness of the beamline has called for special beamline components. This paper presents the beamline design including ultrasensitive X-ray beam-position monitors based on thin Ce:YAG screens, efficient harmonic separators and novel timing tools.

It has been kindly notified to us by Giovanni De Ninno (Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy) that our statement in the abstract (‘‘Currently, this setup is the only source worldwide producing coherent fs-light pulses with variable polarization in the vacuum ultraviolet.’’) is incorrect. The Elettra storage ring free-electron laser has achieved coherent harmonic generation (CHG) in circular polarization at 133 nm [1]. CHG at 87 nm has later also been obtained [2]. The main conclusion from our article is valid in the sense that this is, to date, the shortest published wavelength of helical coherent radiation, here achieved by CHG utilizing an APPLE II undulator in helical mode (66 nm, the 4th harmonic of a 263 nm seed laser).

We have demonstrated the generation of circularly polarized coherent light pulses at 66 nm wavelength by combining laser seeding at 263 nm of a 375 MeV relativistic electron bunch with subsequent coherent harmonic generation from an elliptical undulator of APPLE-II type. Coherent pulses at higher harmonics in linear polarization have been produced and recorded up to the sixth order (44 nm). The duration of the generated pulses depends on the temporal overlap of the initial seed laser pulse and the electron bunch and was on the order of 200 fs. Currently, this setup is the only source worldwide producing coherent fs-light pulses with variable polarization in the vacuum ultraviolet.

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We report experimental measurements of high-order harmonic spectra generated in Ar using a carrier-envelope-offset (CEO) stabilized 12 fs, 800 nm laser field and a fraction (less than 10%) of its second harmonic. Additional spectral peaks are observed between the harmonic peaks, which are due to interferences between multiple pulses in the train. The position of these peaks varies with the CEO and their number is directly related to the number of pulses in the train. An analytical model, as well as numerical simulations, support our interpretation.

We characterize attosecond pulses in a train using both the well established "reconstruction of attosecond beating by interference of two-photon transitions" (RABITT) technique and the recently demonstrated in situ method, which is based on a weak perturbation of the harmonic generation process by the second harmonic of the laser field. The latter technique determines the characteristics of the single atom emission, while RABITT allows one to measure attosecond pulses "on target." By comparing the results of the two methods, the influence of propagation and filtering on the attosecond pulses can be extracted.

The basic properties of atoms, molecules and solids are governed by electron dynamics which take place on extremely short time scales. To measure and control these dynamics therefore requires ultrafast sources of radiation combined with efficient detection techniques. The generation of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond (1 as = 10-18 s) pulses has, for the first time, made direct measurements of electron dynamics possible. Nevertheless, while various applications of attosecond pulses have been demonstrated experimentally, no one has yet captured or controlled the full three dimensional motion of an electron on an attosecond time scale. Here we demonstrate an attosecond quantum stroboscope capable of guiding and imaging electron motion on a sub-femtosecond (1 fs = 10-15 s) time scale. It is based on a sequence of identical attosecond pulses which are synchronized with a guiding laser field. The pulse to pulse separation in the train is tailored to exactly match an optical cycle of the laser field and the electron momentum distributions are detected with a velocity map imaging spectrometer (VMIS). This technique has enabled us to guide ionized electrons back to their parent ion and image the scattering event. We envision that coherent electron scattering from atoms, molecules and surfaces captured by the attosecond quantum stroboscope will complement more traditional scattering techniques since it provides high temporal as well as spatial resolution., 6 pages, 4 figures

We develop and implement an experimental strategy for the generation of high-energy high-order harmonics (HHG) in gases for studies of nonlinear processes in the soft x-ray region. We generate high-order harmonics by focusing a high energy Ti:Sapphire laser into a gas cell filled with argon or neon. The energy per pulse is optimized by an automated control of the multiple parameters that influence the generation process. This optimization procedure allows us to obtain energies per pulse and harmonic order as high as 200 nJ in argon and 20 nJ in neon, with good spatial properties, using a loose focusing geometry (f#≈400) and a 20 mm long medium. We also theoretically examine the macroscopic conditions for absorption-limited conversion efficiency and optimization of the HHG pulse energy for high-energy laser systems.

The MAX IV facility is a planned successor of the existing MAX facility. The planned facility is described below. It consists of two new synchrotron storage rings operated at different electron energies to cover a broad spectral region and one linac injector. The linac injector is also meant to be operated as a FEL electron source. The two rings have similar low emittance lattices and are placed on top of each other to save space. A third UV light source, MAX III, is planned to be transferred to the new facility.

We examine the characteristics of high-order harmonics generated with 800 nm, 25 mJ, 160 fs laser pulses in an Ar gas cell with the objective of seeding a free electron laser. We measure the energy per pulse and per harmonic, the energy jitter, the divergence and the position stability of the harmonic beam. We perform ab initio numerical simulations based on integration of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation and of the wave equation within the slowly varying envelope approximation. The results reproduce the experimental measurements to better than a factor of two. The interaction of a frequency comb of harmonic fields with an electron bunch in an undulator is examined with a simple model consisting of calculating the energy modulation owing to the seed-electron interaction. The model indicates that the undulator acts as a spectral filter selecting a given harmonic. (Less)

Strong field laser-matter interaction is intrinsically a sub-cycle phenomenon, which is clearly illustrated by the generation of attosecond pulses through the high-order harmonic process. Therefore, to control strong field processes the structure of the field driving the generation has to be controlled on a sub-cycle level. One approach is to use phase stabilized few-cycle driving pulses and vary the carrier-envelope phase of these pulses; an alternative method is to use longer pulses and include the second harmonic to tailor the field structure.