CAMP@FLASH: an end-station for imaging, electron- and ion-spectroscopy, and pump–probe experiments at the FLASH free-electron laser

The non-monochromatic beamline BL1 at the FLASH free-electron laser facility at DESY was upgraded with new transport and focusing optics, and a new permanent end-station, CAMP, was installed. This multi-purpose instrument is optimized for electron- and ion-spectroscopy, imaging and pump–probe experiments at free-electron lasers. It can be equipped with various electron- and ion-spectrometers, along with large-area single-photon-counting pnCCD X-ray detectors, thus enabling a wide range of experiments from atomic, molecular, and cluster physics to material and energy science, chemistry and biology. Here, an overview of the layout, the beam transport and focusing capabilities, and the experimental possibilities of this new end-station are presented, as well as results from its commissioning

Highly Flexible Pump-Probe Laser for the Soft-X-Ray Free ElectronLaser FLASH

We report on a OPCPA-based ultrafast pump-probe laser system, which was recently added to the FLASH2 beamline ofthe superconducting, high repetition-rate XUV and soft X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) FLASH. The laser system ishighly flexible in pulse-duration, center-wavelength and repetition-frequency to serve the various demands of pumpprobeexperiments

Compact 60 μ\muJ, 60 fs, MHz-rate burst-mode laser for pump-probe experiments at the FLASH FEL facility

A new burst-mode laser at the FLASH-FEL facility is presented. Multi-pass-cell spectral broadening enables compression of 900-fs pulses from Yb-amplifiers to 60-fs. Nonlinear-ellipse-rotation leads to significant pulse-contrast improvement. Excellent timing-, spectrum- and energy-stability is reported

MHz-rate burst-mode pump-probe laser for the FLASH FEL facility based on nonlinear compression of ps-level pulses from an Yb-amplifier chain

The Free-Electron Laser (FEL) FLASH offers the world-wide still unique capability to study ultrafast processes with high-flux, high-rate XUV and soft X-ray pulses. The vast majority of experiments at FLASH are of pump-probe type and thus rely as well on optical ultrafast lasers. Here, a novel FEL facility laser is reported which combines the high average power output of Yb:YAG amplifiers with spectral broadening in a Herriott-type multi-pass cell and subsequent pulse compression to sub-100 fs durations. Compared to the previously employed laser utilizing optical parametric amplification, the new system comes with significantly improved noise figures, compactness, simplicity and power efficiency. It provides FLASH users 10 Hz repetition rate laser bursts with 800 s long trains of up to 800 pulses being optically synchronized to the FEL bursts with femtosecond precision. In the experimental chamber, pulses with up to 50 J energy, 60 fs FWHM duration and 1 MHz rate at 1.03 m wavelength are available and can be adjusted by computer-control. First cross-correlation measurements with the FEL pulses at the plane-grating monochromator photon beamline are demonstrated, proofing the suitability of the new laser for user experiments at FLASH

CAMP@FLASH: an end-station for imaging, electron- and ion-spectroscopy, and pump–probe experiments at the FLASH free-electron laser

The non-monochromatic beamline BL1 at the FLASH free-electron laser facility at DESY was upgraded with new transport and focusing optics, and a new permanent end-station, CAMP, was installed. This multi-purpose instrument is optimized for electron- and ion-spectroscopy, imaging and pump–probe experiments at free-electron lasers. It can be equipped with various electron- and ion-spectrometers, along with large-area single-photon-counting pnCCD X-ray detectors, thus enabling a wide range of experiments from atomic, molecular, and cluster physics to material and energy science, chemistry and biology. Here, an overview of the layout, the beam transport and focusing capabilities, and the experimental possibilities of this new end-station are presented, as well as results from its commissioning.ISSN:0909-0495ISSN:1600-577