Non-Standard Use of Laser Heater for FEL Control and THz Generation

The laser heater system is currently used at various FEL facilities for an accurate control of the electron beam energy spread in order to suppress the micro-bunching instabilities that can develop in high brightness electron beams. More recently, studies and experiments have shown that laser-electron interaction developing in the laser heater can open new possibilities for tailoring the electron beam properties to meet special requirements. A suitable time-shaping of the laser heater pulse opened the door to the generation of (tens of) femtosecond-long FEL pulses. Using standard laser techniques it is also possible to imprint onto the electron bunch, energy and density modulations in the THz frequency range that, properly sustained through the accelerator, can be exploited for generation of coherent THz radiation at GeV beam energies. Such recent results at the FERMI FEL are here reported, together with near future plans.