140 research outputs found
Chirped seeded free-electron lasers: self-standing light sources for two-colour pump-probe experiments
We demonstrate the possibility to run a single-pass free-electron laser in a
new dynamical regime, which can be exploited to perform two-colour pump-probe
experiments in the VUV/X-ray domain, using the free-electron laser emission
both as a pump and as a probe. The studied regime is induced by triggering the
free-electron laser process with a powerful laser pulse, carrying a significant
and adjustable frequency chirp. As a result, the emitted light is eventually
split in two sub-pulses, whose spectral and temporal separations can be
independently controlled. We provide a theoretical description of this
phenomenon, which is found in good agreement with experiments performed on the
FERMI@Elettra free-electron laser
Experimental demonstration of enhanced self-amplified spontaneous emission by an optical klystron.
We report the first experimental evidence of enhancement of self-amplified spontaneous emission, due to the use of an optical klystron. In this free-electron laser scheme, a relativistic electron beam passes through two undulators, separated by a dispersive section. The latter converts the electron-beam energy modulation produced in the first undulator in density modulation, thus enhancing the free-electron laser gain. The experiment has been carried out at the FERMI facility in Trieste. Powerful radiation has been produced in the extreme ultraviolet range, with an intensity a few orders of magnitude larger than in pure self-amplified spontaneous emission mode. Data have been benchmarked with an existing theoretical model. © 2015 American Physical Society
Comparative study of nonideal beam effects in high gain harmonic generation and self-seeded free electron lasers
In this paper we investigate and compare the properties of two narrow-bandwidth free-electron laser (FEL) schemes, one using self-seeding and the other high gain harmonic generation (HGHG). The two systems have been thoroughly studied analytically and numerically in the past. The aim of this work is to compare their performances when the FEL is driven by an electron beam with nonideal properties, thus including effects such as shot-to-shot energy fluctuations and nonlinear energy chirp. In both cases nonlinearities produce a bandwidth larger than the Fourier transform limited value. However, our analysis indicates that, for approximately the same output power levels, the self-seeding scheme is less affected than the HGHG scheme by quadratic energy chirps in the electron beam longitudinal phase space. This is confirmed by a specific numerical example corresponding to SPARX parameters where the electron beam was optimized to minimize the FEL gain length. The work has been carried out with the aid of the time dependent FEL codes GENESIS 1.3 (3D) and PERSEO (1D)
Spectro-temporal shaping of seeded free-electron laser pulses
We demonstrate the ability to control and shape the spectro-temporal content
of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses produced by a seeded free-electron laser
(FEL). The control over the spectro-temporal properties of XUV light was
achieved by precisely manipulating the linear frequency chirp of the seed
laser. Our results agree with existing theory, which allows retrieving the
temporal properties (amplitude and phase) of the FEL pulse from measurements of
the spectra as a function of the FEL operating parameters. Furthermore, we show
the first direct evidence of the full temporal coherence of FEL light and
generate Fourier limited pulses by fine-tuning the FEL temporal phase. The
possibility to tailor the spectro-temporal content of intense short-wavelength
pulses represents the first step towards efficient nonlinear optics in the XUV
to X-ray spectral region and will enable precise manipulation of core-electron
excitations using the methods of coherent quantum control.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Experimental characterization of superradiance in a single-pass high-gain laser-seeded free-electron laser amplifier.
In this Letter we report the first experimental characterization of superradiance in a single-pass high-gain free-electron laser (FEL) seeded by a 150 femtosecond (FWHM) Ti:sapphire laser. The nonlinear energy gain after an exponential gain regime was observed. We also measured the evolution of the longitudinal phase space in both the exponential and superradiant regimes. The output FEL pulse duration was measured to be as short as 81 fs, a roughly 50% reduction compared to the input seed laser. The temporal distribution of the FEL radiation as predicted by a numerical simulation was experimentally verified for the first time
{\AA}ngstr\"om-resolved Interfacial Structure in Organic-Inorganic Junctions
Charge transport processes at interfaces which are governed by complex
interfacial electronic structure play a crucial role in catalytic reactions,
energy storage, photovoltaics, and many biological processes. Here, the first
soft X-ray second harmonic generation (SXR-SHG) interfacial spectrum of a
buried interface (boron/Parylene-N) is reported. SXR-SHG shows distinct
spectral features that are not observed in X-ray absorption spectra,
demonstrating its extraordinary interfacial sensitivity. Comparison to
electronic structure calculations indicates a boron-organic separation distance
of 1.9 {\AA}, wherein changes as small as 0.1 {\AA} result in easily detectable
SXR-SHG spectral shifts (ca. 100s of meV). As SXR-SHG is inherently ultrafast
and sensitive to individual atomic layers, it creates the possibility to study
a variety of interfacial processes, e.g. catalysis, with ultrafast time
resolution and bond specificity.Comment: 19 page
Livelli plasmatici di adrenomedullina come indicatori di prognosi dopo terapia di resincronizzazione cardiaca
The cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), based on correction of electro-mechanical dyssynchrony by biventricular pacing in patientswith severe chronicHF unresponsive to optimalmedical treatment and left ventricular conduction disturbances, has been developed. The determination of plasma adrenomedullin (ADM) levels before implantation could provide important additional information to reduce the high percentage (30%) of patients not responding to treatment despite the use of increasingly sophisticatedmethods for selecting candidates. The case described illustrates the importance of basal ADM plasma levels in predicting the clinical and functional improvement after treatment with CRT
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Sources for Lithography based on Synchrotron Radiation
The study presented here was initiated by a discussion to investigate the
possibility of using synchrotron radiation as a source for the Next Generation
Lithography (NGL) based on the EUV-concept (Extreme Ultra-Violet; here 13.5 nm
or 11.3 nm radiation, respectively). The requirements are: 50 W, 2% bandwidth
and minimal power outside this bandwidth. Three options were investigated. The
first two deal with radiation from bending magnets and undulators. The results
confirm the earlier work by Oxfords Instrument and others that these
light-sources lack in-band power while emitting excessive out-of-band
radiation. The third approach is a FEL (Free Electron Laser) driven by a 500
MeV linear accelerator with a superconducting mini-undulator as radiation
emitting device. Such a device would produce in-band EUV-power in excess of 50
W with negligible out-of-band power.Comment: Submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods
Three-Dimensional Shapes of Spinning Helium Nanodroplets
A significant fraction of superfluid helium nanodroplets produced in a
free-jet expansion have been observed to gain high angular momentum resulting
in large centrifugal deformation. We measured single-shot diffraction patterns
of individual rotating helium nanodroplets up to large scattering angles using
intense extreme ultraviolet light pulses from the FERMI free-electron laser.
Distinct asymmetric features in the wide-angle diffraction patterns enable the
unique and systematic identification of the three-dimensional droplet shapes.
The analysis of a large dataset allows us to follow the evolution from
axisymmetric oblate to triaxial prolate and two-lobed droplets. We find that
the shapes of spinning superfluid helium droplets exhibit the same stages as
classical rotating droplets while the previously reported metastable, oblate
shapes of quantum droplets are not observed. Our three-dimensional analysis
represents a valuable landmark for clarifying the interrelation between
morphology and superfluidity on the nanometer scale
A robust and powerful green light photoemission source: The ferroelectric ceramics
The photoemission characteristics of ceramic disks of lead zirconate titanate lanthanum doped (PLZT), have been investigated. We observe 1 nC of extracted charge under an accelerating field of 20 kV/cm in poor vacuum conditions. The emission is clearly limited by space charge effects. The extrapolated quantum efficiency results in ≈10−6. The yield of a PLZT ceramic in the ferroelectric state and its slope versus light intensity have turned out higher than those of antiferroelectric ceramic. Samples in different experimental configurations have shown different nonlinear yields
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