The cavity optics within high power free-electron lasers based on energy-recovering accelerators are subjected to extreme conditions associated with illumination from a broad spectrum of radiation, often at high irradiances. This is especially true for the output coupler, where absorption of radiation by both the mirror substrate and coating places significant design restrictions to properly manage heat load and prevent mirror distortion. Besides the fundamental lasing wavelength, the mirrors are irradiated with light at harmonics of the fundamental, THz radiation generated by the bending magnets downstream of the wiggler, and x-rays produced when the electron beam strikes accelerator diagnostic components (e.g., wire scanners and view screens) or from inadvertent beam loss. The optics must reside within high vacuum at similar to 10(-8) Toff and this requirement introduces its own set of complications. This talk discusses the performance of numerous high reflector and output coupler optics assemblies and provides a detailed list of lessons learned gleaned from years of experience operating the Upgrade IR FEL, a 10 kW-class, sub-ps laser with output wavelength from I to 6 microns.

Beam transport components for the 10kW IR Free Electron Laser (FEL) at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) were designed to manage 1) electron beam transport and 2) photon beam transport. An overview of the components will be presented in this paper. The electron beam transport components were designed to address RF heating, maintain an accelerator transport vacuum of 1 × 10-8torr, deliver photons to the optical cavity, and provide 50 kW of beam absorption during the energy recovery process. The components presented include a novel shielded bellows, a novel zero length beam clipper, a one decade differential pumping station with a 7.62 cm (3.0”) aperture, and a 50 kW beam dump. The photon beam transport components were designed to address the management of photons delivered by the accelerator transport. The optical cavity manages the photons and optical transport delivers the 10 kW of laser power to experimental labs. The optical cavity component presented is a unique high reflector vessel and the optical transport component presented is a turning mirror cassette.

A new THz/IR/UV photon source at Jefferson Lab is the first of a new generation of light sources based on an Energy-Recovered, (superconducting) Linac (ERL). The machine has a 160 MeV electron beam and an average current of 10 mA in 75 MHz repetition rate hundred femtosecond bunches.These electron bunches pass through a magnetic chicane and therefore emit synchrotron radiation. For wavelengths longer than the electron bunch the electrons radiate coherently a broadband THz similar to half cycle pulse whose average brightness is > 5 orders of magnitude higher than synchrotron IR sources. Previous measurements showed 20W of average power extracted [Carr, et a]., Nature 420 (2002) 153]. The new facility offers simultaneous synchrotron light from the visible through the FIR along with broadband THz production of 100 fs pulses with > 200W of average power.The FELs also provide record-breaking laser power [Neil, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84 (2000) 6621: up to 10 kW of average power in the IR from 1 to 14 mu m in 400 fs pulses at up to 74.85 MHz repetition rates and soon will produce similar pulses of 300-1000nm light at up to 3 kW of average power from the UV FEL. These ultrashort pulses are ideal for maximizing the interaction with material surfaces. The optical beams are Gaussian with nearly perfect beam quality. See www.jlab.org/FEL for details of the operating characteristics; a wide variety of pulse train configurations are feasible from 10ms long at high repetition rates to continuous operation.The THz and IR system has been commissioned. The UV system is to follow in 2005. The light is transported to user laboratories for basic and applied research. Additional lasers synchronized to the FEL are also available. Past activities have included production of carbon nanotubes, studies of vibrational relaxation of interstitial hydrogen in silicon, pulsed laser deposition and ablation, nitriding of metals, and energy flow in proteins. This paper will present the status of the system and discuss some of the discoveries we have made concerning the physics performance, design optimization, and operational limitations of such a first generation high power ERL light source. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The IR Upgrade FEL at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) was used to make measurements of the absorption in laser cavity mirrors, both high reflectors and outcouplers. Measurements were made at 10, 6, and 3 um, by determining the temperature rise of the cooling water of the FEL cavity mirrors while operating at high average power, and by using a laser vacuum calorimeter and interpreting the data using the ISO 11551 standard.

After demonstrating 10 kW operation with 1 second pulses, the Jefferson Lab program switched to demonstrating high power operation at short wavelengths using a new 8 cm period wiggler and a THz suppression chicane. We report here on the lasing results to date using this new configuration. We have demonstrated a large reduction in THz heating on the mirrors. We have also eliminated heating in the mirror steering assemblies, making operation at high power much more stable. Finally, we have greatly reduced astigmatism in the optical cavity, allowing operation with a very short Rayleigh range. The laser has been tuned from 0.9 to 3.1 microns using the new wiggler. User experiments commenced in April of 2005 with the FEL Upgrade operating over the 1-3 micron range. We are in the process of installing a 5.5 cm permanent magnet wiggler that will give us even larger tuning range and higher power.

A new THz/IR/UV photon source at Jefferson Lab is the first of a new generation of light sources based on a Energy-Recovered, (superconducting) Linac (ERL). The machine has a 160 MeV electron beam and an average current of 10 mA in 75 MHz repetition rate hundred femtosecond bunches. These electron bunches pass through a magnetic chicane and therefore emit synchrotron radiation. For wavelengths longer than the electron bunch the electrons radiate coherently a broadband THz ~ half cycle pulse whose average brightness is > 5 orders of magnitude higher than synchrotron IR sources. Previous measurements showed 20 W of average power extracted[1]. The new facility offers simultaneous synchrotron light from the visible through the FIR along with broadband THz production of 100 fs pulses with >200 W of average power (see G. P. Williams, this conference). The FELs also provide record-breaking laser power [2]: up to 10 kW of average power in the IR from 1 to 14 microns in 400 fs pulses at up to 74.85 MHz repetition rates and soon will produce similar pulses of 300–1000 nm light at up to 3 kW of average power from the UV FEL. These ultrashort pulses are ideal for maximizing the interaction with material surfaces. The optical beams are Gaussian with nearly perfect beam quality. See www.jlab.org/FEL for details of the operating characteristics; a wide variety of pulse train configurations are feasible from 10 microseconds long at high repetition rates to continuous operation. The THz and IR system has been commissioned. The UV system is to follow in 2005. The light is transported to user laboratories for basic and applied research. Additional lasers synchronized to the FEL are also available. Past activities have included production of carbon nanotubes, studies of vibrational relaxation of interstitial hydrogen in silicon, pulsed laser vapor deposition, nitriding of metals, and energy flow in proteins. This paper will present the status of the system and discuss some of the opportunities provided by this unique light source for modifying and studying materials.

We report on progress in commissioning the IR Upgrade facility at Jefferson Lab. Operation at high power has been demonstrated at 5.7 microns with over 8.5 kW of continuous power output, 10 kW for 1 second long pulses, and CW recirculated electron beam power of over 1.1 MW. We report on the features and limitations of the present design and report on the path to getting even higher powers.

We report initial lasing results from the IR Upgrade FEL at Jefferson Lab (Proceedings: 2001 Particle Accelerator Conference, IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, 2001). The electron accelerator was operated with low average current beam at 80MeV. The time structure of the beam was 120pC bunches at 4.678MHz with up to 750μs pulses at 2Hz. Lasing was established over the entire wavelength range of the mirrors (5.5–6.6μm). The detuning curve length, turn-on time, and power were in agreement with modeling results assuming a 1ps FWHM micropulse. The same model predicts over 10kW of power output with 10mA of beam and 10% output coupling, which is the ultimate design goal of the IR Upgrade FEL. The behavior of the laser while the dispersion section strength was varied was found to qualitatively match predictions. Initial CW lasing results also will be presented.

We report on progress in commissioning the IR Upgrade facility at Jefferson Lab. Operation at high power has been demonstrated at 5.7 microns with over 8.5 kW of continuous power output, 10 kW for 1 second long pulses, and CW recirculated electron beam power of over 1.1 MW. We report on the features and limitations of the present design and report on the path to getting even higher powers.

Observations of energy spread asymmetry when operating the Linac on either side of crest and longitudinal emittance growth have been confirmed by extending PARMELA simulations from the injector to the end of the first SRF Linac module. The asymmetry can be explained by the interaction of the accelerating electric field with that from longitudinal space charge effects within the electron bunch. This can be a major limitation to performance in FEL accelerators.

We describe the design, construction, and operation of a high average power free-electron laser using scraper outcoupling. Using the FEL in this all-reflective configuration, we achieved approximately 2 kW of stable output at 10 um. Measurements of gain, loss, and output mode will be compared with our models.