Performance Achievements and Challenges for FELs based on Energy Recovered Linacs

During the past decade several groups have assembled free electron lasers based on energy recovered linacs (ERLs). Such arrangements have been built to obtain high average power electron and photon beams, by using high repetition rate beam pulses driving FEL oscillators. In this paper the performance of many existing and several proposed facilities from around the world are reviewed. Going forward, many questions must be addressed to achieve still better performance including: higher average current injectors, better optimized accelerating cavities, higher energy acceptance and lower loss beam recirculation systems, and better optical cavity designs for dealing with the optical beam power circulating in the ERL FELs. This paper presents some of the current thinking on each of these issues