The ALPHA-X beam line: towards a compact FEL

Maria Pia Anania, Enrico Brunetti, Silvia Cipiccia, David Clark, Riju Issac, Grace Manahan, Thomas McCanny, Albert Reitsma, Richard Shanks, Gregor H. Welsh, Mark Wiggins, Dino Jaroszynski, S. B. van der Geer, M. J. de Loos, M.W. Poole, J. A. Clarke, B. J. A. Shepherd

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution book

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent progress in developing laser-plasma accelerators is raising the possibility of a compact coherent radiation source that could be housed in a medium sized university department. Furthermore, since the duration of electron bunches from laser-plasma wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) is determined by the relativistic plasma wavelength, radiation sources based on these accelerators can produce pulses with femtosecond durations. Beam properties from laser-plasma accelerators have been traditionally thought of as not being of sufficient quality
to produce amplification. However, our work shows this not to be the case. Here, we present a study of the beam characteristics of a laser-plasma accelerator and the compact ALPHA-X (Advanced Laser Plasma Highenergy Accelerators towards X-rays) FEL. We discuss the implementation of a focussing system consisting of a
triplet of permanent magnet quadrupoles and a triplet of electromagnetic quadrupoles [1, 2]. The design of these devices has been carried out using the GPT (General Particle Tracer) code [3, 4], which considers space charge
effects and allows a realistic estimate of electron beam properties along the beam line. We will present a study of the influence of beam transport on FEL action in the undulator, paying particular attention to bunch dispersion
in the undulator. This is an important step for developing a compact synchrotron source or a SASE free-electron laser [5, 6].
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIPAC 2010 contributions to the proceedings
Pages2263-2265
Number of pages3
Publication statusPublished - 18 Jun 2010
Event1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC’10 - Kyoto, Japan
Duration: 23 May 201028 May 2010

Conference

Conference1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC’10
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityKyoto
Period23/05/1028/05/10

Keywords

  • ALPHA-X
  • beam line
  • compact FEL
  • laser-plasma accelerators

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