Pulse-by-pulse multi-beam-line operation for x-ray free-electron lasers

The parallel operation of plural undulator beam lines is an important means of improving the efficiency and usability of x-ray free-electron laser facilities. After the installation of a second undulator beam line (BL2) at SPring-8 Angstrom compact free-electron laser (SACLA), pulse-by-pulse switching between two beam lines was tested using kicker and dc twin-septum magnets. To maintain a compact size, all undulator beam lines at SACLA are designed to be placed within the same undulator hall located downstream of the accelerator. In order to ensure broad tunability of the laser wavelength, the electron bunches are accelerated to different beam energies optimized for the wavelengths of each beam line. In the demonstration, the 30 Hz electron beam was alternately deflected to two beam lines and simultaneous lasing was achieved with 15 Hz at each beam line. Since the electron beam was deflected twice by 3° in a dogleg to BL2, the coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) effects became non-negligible. Currently in a wavelength range of 4–10 keV, a laser pulse energy of 100–150 μJ can be obtained with a reduced peak current of around 1 kA by alleviating the CSR effects. This paper reports the results and operational issues related to the multi-beam-line operation of SACLA.