XUV free-electron laser development at Los Alamos

Free-electron lasers (FELs) for the vacuum-ultraviolet and soft X-ray spectral regions (together termed the XUV) are being designed at Los Alamos for integration into a future national UV/XUV FEL user facility for scientific experimentation. As proposed, this facility would consist of a sequence of up to 15 FEL oscillators and amplifiers, driven by a single, rf-linear accelerator, that will generate broadly tunable, picosecond-pulse, coherent radiation over the range from 1 to 400 nm. Below 300 nm, the peak- and average-power output of these FEL devices should surpass the capabilities of any existing, continuously tunable photon sources by many orders-of-magnitude. The authors describe the design parameters and predicted output of these FELs and make comparison with synchrotron radiation sources. Brief mention is given to our recent progress in developing the three primary components (electron beam, magnetic undulator, and resonator mirrors). 30 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs