Two-Color Operation of FLASH2 Undulator

FLASH is the first soft X-ray FEL user facility, routinely providing brilliant photon beams for users since 2005. The second undulator branch of this facility, FLASH2, is gaptunable which allows to test and use advanced lasing concepts.In particular, we tested recently a two-color mode of operation based on the alternation of tunes of the undulator segments (every other segment is tuned to the second wavelength).This scheme is advantageous in comparison with a subsequent generation of two colors in two consecutive sections of the undulator line. First, source positions of the two FEL beams are close to each other which makes it easier to handle them. Second, the amplification is more efficientin this configuration since the segments with respectively"wrong" wavelength still act as bunchers. We developed methods for online intensity measurements of the two colors simultaneously that require a combination of two detectors.We present some examples of such measurements in the XUV and soft X-ray regimes

An X-ray gas monitor for free-electron lasers

A novel X-ray gas monitor (XGM) has been developed which allows the measurement of absolute photon pulse energy and photon beam position at all existing and upcoming free-electron lasers (FELs) over a broad spectral range covering vacuum ultraviolet (VUV), extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft and hard X-rays. The XGM covers a wide dynamic range from spontaneous undulator radiation to FEL radiation and provides a temporal resolution of better than 200 ns. The XGM consists of two X-ray gas-monitor detectors (XGMDs) and two huge-aperture open electron multipliers (HAMPs). The HAMP enhances the detection efficiency of the XGM for low-intensity radiation down to 10$^5$ photons per pulse and for FEL radiation in the hard X-ray spectral range, while the XGMD operates in higher-intensity regimes. The relative standard uncertainty for measurements of the absolute photon pulse energy is well below 10%, and down to 1% for measurements of relative pulse-to-pulse intensity on pulses with more than 10$^{10}$ photons per pulse. The accuracy of beam-position monitoring in the vertical and horizontal directions is of the order of 10 µm

Operation of X-ray gas monitors at the European XFEL

X-ray gas monitors (XGMs) are operated at the European XFEL for non-invasive single-shot pulse energy measurements and average beam position monitoring. They are used for tuning and maintaining the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) operation and for sorting single-shot experimental data according to the pulse-resolved energy monitor data. The XGMs were developed at DESY based on the specific requirements for the European XFEL. In total, six XGM units are continuously in operation. Here, the main principle and experimental setup of an XGM are summarized, and the locations of the six XGMs at the facility are shown. Pulse energy measurements at 0.134 nm wavelength are presented, exceeding 1 mJ obtained with an absolute measurement uncertainty of 7–10%; correlations between different XGMs are shown, from which a SASE1 beamline transmission of 97% is deduced. Additionally, simultaneous position measurements close to the undulator and at the end of the tunnel are shown, along with the correlation of beam position data simultaneously acquired by an XGM and an imager

Two-Color Operation of a Soft X-ray FEL with Alternation of Undulator Tunes

FLASH is the first soft X-ray FEL user facility, routinely providing brilliant photon beams for users since 2005. The second undulator branch of this facility, FLASH2, is gap-tunable, which allows for testing and using advanced lasing concepts. In particular, we developed a two-color operation mode based on the alternatingly tuned undulator segments (every other segment is tuned to the second wavelength). This scheme is advantageous in comparison with a subsequent generation of two colors in two consecutive sections of the undulator line. First, source positions of the two FEL beams are close to each other which makes it easier to focus them on a sample. Second, the amplification is more efficient in this configuration since the segments with respectively “wrong” wavelength still act as bunchers. We studied operation of this scheme in the regime of small and large separation of tunes (up to a factor of two). We developed new methods for online intensity measurements of the two colors simultaneously that require a combination of two detectors. We also demonstrated our capabilities to measure spectral and temporal properties of two pulses with different wavelengths

The Evolution of the DOOCS C++ Code Base

This contribution traces the development of DESY's control system DOOCS from its origins in 1992 to its current state as the backbone of the European XFEL and FLASH accelerators and of the future Petra IV light source. Some details of the continual modernization and refactoring efforts on the 1.5 million line C++ code base are highlighted

First Characterization of the Photon Beam at the European XFEL in July, 2017

North branch of the European XFEL, SASE1, produced first light on May 3rd, 2017, and XFEL operation has been gradually improved then. First characterization of the photon beam has been performed in July / August 2017, just before an official starting date of user experiments (September 1st, 2017). Energy of the electron beam was 14 GeV, bunch charge was 500 pC, photon energy was 9.3 keV. With photon diagnostics available at that time (X-ray gas monitor (XGM) and FEL imager) we measured the gain curve and traced evolution of the FEL radiation mode along the undulator. An important conclusion is that experimental results demonstrate reasonable agreement with baseline parameters. Developed techniques of the photon beam characterization also provided solid base for identification of the problems and means for improving SASE FEL tuning and operation

Harmonic radiation contribution and X-ray transmission at the Small Quantum Systems instrument of European XFEL

Transmission measurements of the soft X-ray beamline to the Small Quantum Systems (SQS) scientific instrument at the SASE3 undulator of European XFEL are presented. Measurements are reported for a wide range of photon energies (650 eV to 2400 eV), using X-ray gas monitors as well as a bolometric radiometer. The results are in good agreement with simulations for the beam transport and show a transmission of up to 80% over the whole photon energy range. The contribution of second- and third-harmonic radiation of the soft X-ray undulator is determined at selected photon energies by performing transmission measurements using a gas absorber to provide variable attenuation of the incoming photon flux. A comparison of the results with semi-analytic calculations for the generation of free-electron laser pulses in the SASE3 undulator reveals an influence of apertures along the beam transport on the exact harmonic content to be accounted for at the experiment. The second-harmonic content is measured to be in the range of 0.1% to 0.3%, while the third-harmonic contributed a few percent to the SASE3 emission. For experiments at the SQS instrument, these numbers can be reduced through specific selections of the mirror reflection angles

Pulse power measurements and attenuator characterization of the hard X-ray beamline at the Linac Coherent Light Source

The absolute power of the Linac Coherent Light Source pulses has been measured accurately in the hard X-raybeamline by using simultaneously two detectors:1 an X-ray Gas Monitor Detector (XGMD)2 in tandem witha radiometer.3 From these measurements, we were also able to characterize and calibrate in details our setsof beamline attenuators, in addition to extending an absolute calibration for our beamline intensity monitors.Similarly, we demonstrate that commercial optical power meter has a response in the hard X-ray regime, thatcan be cross-correlated with the absolute power of the LCLS beam

The beam transport system for the Small Quantum Systems instrument at the European XFEL: optical layout and first commissioning results

The Small Quantum Systems instrument is one of the six operating instruments of the European XFEL, dedicated to the atomic, molecular and cluster physics communities. The instrument started its user operation at the end of 2018 after a commissioning phase. The design and characterization of the beam transport system are described here. The X-ray optical components of the beamline are detailed, and the beamline performances, transmission and focusing capabilities are reported. It is shown that the X-ray beam can be effectively focused as predicted by ray-tracing simulations. The impact of non-ideal X-ray source conditions on the focusing performances is discussed