Coherent soft X-ray pulses from an echo-enabled harmonic generation free-electron laser

• X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs), which amplify light emitted by a relativistic electron beam, are extending nonlinear optical techniques to shorter wavelengths, adding element specificity by exciting and probing electronic transitions from core levels. These techniques would benefit tremendously from having a stable FEL source, generating spectrally pure and wavelength-tunable pulses. We show that such requirements can be met by operating the FEL in the so-called echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) configuration. Here, two external conventional lasers are used to precisely tailor the longitudinal phase space of the electron beam before emission of X-rays. We demonstrate high-gain EEHG lasing producing stable, intense, nearly fully coherent pulses at wavelengths as short as 5.9 nm (~211 eV) at the FERMI FEL user facility. Low sensitivity to electron-beam imperfections and observation of stable, narrow-band, coherent emission down to 2.6 nm (~474 eV) make the technique a prime candidate for generating laser-like pulses in the X-ray spectral region, opening the door to multidimensional coherent spectroscopies at short wavelengths. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Atom- och molekylfysik och optik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Electron beams

Electron emission

Free electron lasers

Harmonic generation

Phase space methods

X rays

Coherent spectroscopies

Conventional lasers

Electronic transition

Element specificity

Harmonic generation free electron lasers

Nonlinear optical technique

Relativistic electron beam

X-ray free electron lasers

Electrons

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)