NUCLEAR

iNSTRUMENTS
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 331 (1993) 228-231 & METHODS
North-Holland tN PHYSICS
RESEARCH
Section A

T h e U C L A I R F E L project *
G. B a r a n o v a, N. B a r o v b p. Davis c, M. F a u v e r b B. Gitter b, G. H a i r a p e t i a n ~,
S. H a r t m a n b , M. H o g a n b , S. I v a n c h e n k o v d , C. Joshi c , A. K h l e b n i k o v d , P. K w o k b,b
N. L u h m a n n Jr. c, S. P a r k b, C. Pellegrini b, j. R o s e n z w e i g b, K. S c h e n k b, j. Smolin ,
P. T r a n b G. Travish b and A. V a r f o l o m e e v d
a D.U. Efremov Scientific Research Institute of Electrophysical Apparatus, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
b Particle Beam Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
c Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Laboratory of Coherent Radiation, Russian Science Center, L V.. Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation

A 10.6 ~m free electron laser (FEL) operating in the high gain regime is under construction at UCLA. FEL physics significant
to future short wavelength operation will be emphasized including optical guiding, superradiance, saturation and self-amplified
spontaneous emission (SASE). A 5 MeV rf photocathode gun illuminated by a UV laser will supply a high brightness electron beam
which will be injected into a plane wave transformer (PWT) linac for acceleration to 20 MeV. Recent measurements of the gun
emittance as well as quantum efficiency are presented. The undulator is of a modified hybrid design producing ~ 7.5 kG peak field
on axis with 5 mm gap spacing and 1.5 cm pole period. Simulation results which include three-dimensional effects are furnished.
The present status and future plans of the project are summarized.

1. Overview The complete beamline including the plane wave

The Particle B e a m Physics Laboratory at U C L A is
constructing a short period F E L which will operate in
the high gain regime. The focus of the work thus far
has been the production of a high brightness electron
beam suitable for this and future FELs. The next stage
of the project will concern itself with F E L physics; of
primary interest are issues of significance to future
short wavelength devices. P h e n o m e n a to be studied
include self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE),
superradiance, optical (refractive) guiding and satura-
tion.
A compact high brightness electron source is cur-
rently being tested at the U C L A D e p a r t m e n t of Physics
[1,2]. A n S-band rf gun employing a copper photocath-
ode produces a 4.5 M e V high brightness beam [3]. The
copper photocathode, while easy to handle and robust,
requires illumination by a U V laser. Short (2-50 ps)
pulses of U V (266 nm) are produced using a frequency
quadrupled N d : Y A G laser which is pulse compressed
[4]. A 5 M e V test stand complete with b e a m diagnos-
tics is currently operating. Emittance and quantum
efficiency measurements of the gun are presented in
the next section. A drawing of the test beamline is
given in fig. 1.
* Work supported by US DOE Grant No. DOE-DE-FG03-
92ER40693.
transformer linac [5], associated optics and experiment
insertion region is shown in fig. 2. The undulator is
complete and has been tuned and tested. Further
details and simulation results are presented in subse-
quent sections. Conclusions and future plans are dis-
cussed in the final section.
2. The 5 MeV test stand
High brightness photocathode guns have great po-
tential as beam sources for F E L s [6]. Characterizing
the performance of these devices has been a priority at
a number of institutes. Recent measurements of the
U C L A gun have yielded fruitfu! results. Dark current,
emittance and quantum efficiency have been mea-
sured. These investigations were carried out on a 5
M e V beamline consisting of the gun, quadrupole
triplet, dipole bending magnet and various b e a m diag-
nostics. The present operating parameters are given in
table 1.
The U C L A S-band rf copper photocathode gun has
been described in detail eIsewhere [7]. Briefly, the gun
is a one and a half cell structure with a high peak
accelerating field ( ~ 100 M V / m ) . Solenoidal focusing
is used to control the highly divergent b e a m after it
exits the gun. Dark current is an issue in this and other
photocathode guns due to the high fields used to

0168-9002/93/$06.00 © 1993 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved

 G. Baranov et aI. / The UCLA IR FEL project 229

Table 1
Measured operating parameters for the UCLA 5 MeV test
Dark Current Spectrum
10
stand. The system is operated with single bunches at a repeti-
"G
tion rate up to 5 Hz 0
;">- 8
0
Electron beam (measured) 0
Electron beam energy _<5 MeV 56 ®
0
Peak charge ~ 1 nC
Pulse duration (rms) ~ 50 ps
C
®0
4
Normalized emittance (rms) ~ 12-rr mm mrad o•
=o o
o
O 2
"o 0ooo °o0
control space charge derived emittance growth. P r o p e r ~, ,°'~ ....
gun conditioning can help r e d u c e dark current, and 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3,5
m e a s u r e m e n t s of the dark c u r r e n t s p e c t r u m are neces- P (MeV/c)
sary to quantify the problem. The dark current spec- Fig. 3. The dark current energy spectrum for the UCLA gun.
t r u m as m e a s u r e d for the U C L A gun after condition-
ing is given in fig. 3.
U s i n g the scanning q u a d r u p o l e t e c h n i q u e the nor- m a d e with a 3 M e V b e a m to avoid complications by
malized rms e m i t t a n c e of ~ 50 ps (rms) b e a m s was dark current.
m e a s u r e d to b e ~ 12~ m m mrad. T h e m e a s u r e d emit- The choice of c a t h o d e materials has received m u c h
tance is e x p e c t e d to go down substantially w h e n shorter attention in the literature [9]. While materials such as
pulses ( ~ 2 ps rms) are used. Simulations using the CsSb can offer high q u a n t u m efficiency ( Q E ) and ease
P A R M E L A code predict an emittance of 5 ~ m m m r a d of manufacturing, they require high vacuum ( ~ 10-11
for the 2 ps case [8]. E m i t t a n c e m e a s u r e m e n t s w e r e Torr) and have a limited lifetime. O n the o t h e r hand,

FARADAY I
CUP
STRIPUNE ] t
5 MeV RF DIPOLE BENDING MONITOR I I
GUN MAGNET ~.~
SOLENO, D |
I ILASER COUPLING ~,~j~'

' ' ' ~ __ ADDITIONAL

_ _ DIAGNOSTICS

Fig. 1. The UCLA 5 MeV test stand beamline showing the gun, magnets and diagnostics. The laser mirror box is used to 111 "
_ umlnate
the cathode on axis ( ~ 3°) while ports on the gun allow for 70° illumination.

5 MeV RF GUN 20 MeV LINAC DIPOLE PHOSPHOR SCREEN

I LASER
COUPLING
I ISTRIPUNE /
MONITOR
I

"~_.~ DIAGNOSTICBEAMLINE

- ~

Fig. 2. The full UCLA FEL project beamline showing the gun, linac and experiment inertion area. The second beamline will be
used for diagnostics and other experiments.

V. PROJECTS/PROPOSALS
230 G. Baranov et a L / The UCLA IR FEL project

simple metals such as copper are inexpensive, easy to Table 2

work with and rugged, but have poor quantum effi- Design parameters for the UCLA FEL. Electron beam figures
ciency ( ~ 10-5). Since copper cathodes require expen- are based on simulation results
sive U V laser illumination, enhancement of the quan- Electron beam (simulation)
tum efficiency is desirable. Currently, the U C L A gun Electron beam energy ~ 20 MeV
utilizes a removable unpolished copper cathode. The Energy spead (rms) 0.1%
test stand features two sets of laser ports; one on axis Peak current 200 A
(perpendicular to the cathode) another at 70 ° from the Pulse duration (rms) ~ 2 ps
axis. Enhancement of the quantum efficiency by orders Normalized emittance (rms) ~ 5~ mm mrad
of magnitude was predicted for the off axis illumina- Undulator (measured)
tion [10]. Preliminary measurements show a QE of Undulator period 1.5 cm
2.7 × 10 .5 on axis and 10.5 × 10 -5 at 70 ° which implies Total length 60 cm
an enhancement ratio of 3.9. This ratio is substantially Pole face gap (fixed) 5 mm
smaller than the one predicted by theory; however, Peak field on axis 7.5 kG
these measurements are preliminary. FEL parameter (p) ~ 1 × 10-2
In order to preserve the short pulse length ( ~ few
ps), a scheme is now being devised to "tilt" the pulse
appropriately. In this way, the impact of the laser pulse deflection Ax = 150 ~m satisfies the requirement that
will be uniform in time across the face of the cathode. it be less that the beam waist ~rx = 200 ~zm.
Because there are two laser ports (left and right) at 70 ° The initial F EL will be configured as a single pass
it is also possible to illuminate the cathode symmetri- amplifier. Calculations indicate that the SASE signal
cally. Finally, it has been reported that cathode surface will be weak and may be difficult to detect. A pulsed
finish affects photoelectron production [11]. Cathodes CO a laser will be used as a seed in order to study
with various finishes (i.e. polished, grated, etc.) are saturation effects and simplify detection. A T E A - C O 2
currently being produced and will be tested soon. laser with peak power in the megawatt range and
associated optics are being tested for this purpose. In
order to preserve emittance, the electron beam will be
sent directly through the undulator: no bends are pre-
3. The 20 MeV beamline and undulator
sent in the beamline before the undulator. This neces-
sitates the use of a mirror with a hole in it to introduce
Once characterization of the gun and beam are the seed laser into the beamline.
finished, a 20 MeV beamline including the PWT linac Numerical simulations have been used to determine
will be assembled (see fig. 2). The main beamline as the FEL's expected performance. Primarily, Tran and
well as a second beamline will contain various beam Wurtele's T D A code has been used [14]. Utilizing the
diagnostics: strip-line monitors, phosphor screens, parameters given in table 2, the code predicts an
Cherenkov and optical transition radiation detectors, exponential power growth length of 8.7 cm. This corre-
Faraday cups, etc. Successful operation of the com-
plete beamline will lead to undulator insertion and
FEL operation. Gain vs. Distance Along Undulator
A novel high performance undulator has been con- 1os
structed for U C L A by the collaborators at the Kurcha- 107 ~ ~
tov Institute. The design utilizes N d - F e - B blocks in a 106
hybrid configuration with vanadium permedure yokes.
1o5
In addition, SmCo s blocks placed between the yokes
enhance the pole tip field. The samarium cobalt blocks "~ 104 Present
counter the flux from the N d - F e - B magnets within (.5 1o3 FEL

the yokes. Thus, saturation of the yoke is reduced. At 102 , ~

the same time, the blocks enhance the flux within the 1 o1
pole gaps. In this way a higher field is produced than
10°
possible with a conventional hybrid design [12]. The
10-1
linear undulator is 60 cm long with a 1.5 cm period, 5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1,8 2
mm fixed gap spacing and 7.5 kG peak field. Distance Along Undulator [m]
The mechanical assembly allows for precise tuning Fig. 4. A plot of the power gain as a function of undulator
of the field: a field uniformity better than _+0.25% has length for the UCLA FEL produced by the TDA code.
been achieved [13]. The second integral of the undula- Injection energy for this simulation was 19 MeV with a beam
tor field (along the axis) shows that the electron beam current of 200 A.
 G. Baranov et a L / The UCLA IR FEL project
Table 3
Simulation results for the UCLA FEL from the TDA code.
Parameters used are as }hose in table 2
FEL (simulation)
Output radiation wavelength 10.6 I.~m
Power gain (e-folding) length 8.7 cm
SASE saturation length 160 cm
Peak power at saturnation ~ 50 MW
SASE peak power output after 60 cm ~ 1.7 kW
sponds to a gain of 103 over the undulator length.
Saturation occurs at ~ 1.6 m with a peak power of
~ 50 MW. A plot of the gain as a function of distance
down the undulator is given in fig. 4. Assuming a peak
spontaneous noise level of 1.75 W, which corresponds
to the radiation emitted in one gain length of the
undulator, then the peak power at output is 1.7 KW.
This low average power necessitates the use of cryo-
genic detectors. For this and other reasons it is likely
that initial operation will be with the seed laser. A n
input power of a few tens of kW is sufficient to
saturate the FEL. Simulation results are summarized
in table 3.
Saturation cannot be achieved from S A S E with the
present undulator. However, after suitable testing of
the first undulator a second undulator will be obtained.
Running as an optical klystron [15] the U C L A F E L will
be able to achieve saturation (or high extraction effi-
ciency) starting from SASE.
4. Conclusions and future work
The U C L A F E L project has a viable high brightness
source to be used in conjunction with a completed
short period undulator. The quantum efficiency en-
h a n c e m e n t findings are of significance for high bright-
ness sources in general and for F E L s in particular. The
e n h a n c e m e n t implies that a lower power, and hence a
less complex laser system, can be used. Alternatively,
the additional laser power can be used to drive a
higher current beam.
O n c e operational, the F E L will be used to study
p h e n o m e n a of significance to future short wavelength
231
devices. D u e to the lack of suitable mirrors, the oscilla-
tor configuration is presently impractical for short
wavelengths. Hence, the U C L A device will operate as
an amplifier in the high gain regime. The lack of
suitable sources at various wavelengths makes the fea-
sibility of startup from spontaneous emission (SASE
mode) important [16]. The need to mitigate diffraction
also makes the study of optical guiding significant.
These phenomena, as well as saturation, superradiance
and sidebands, will be studied at U C L A .
References
[1] F. Aghamir et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A304 (1991)
155.
[2] J. Dodd et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A318 (1992) 178:
[3] J.S. Fraser and R.L. Sheffield, IEEE J. Quantum Elec-
tron QE-23 (1987) 1489.
[4] P. Maine et al., IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-24 (2)
(1988) 403.
[5] D.A. Swenson, Europ. Particle Accelerator Conf., Rome,
Italy, 1988, vol. 2, ed. S. Tazzari, p. 1418.
[6] S. Hartman et al., IEEE 1991 Particle Accelerator Conf.
Proc., p. 2967.
[7] J.G. Davis, C.J. Josh} and C. Pellegrini, Intense Mi-
crowave and Particle Beams III, ed. H.E. Brandt (Else-
vier).
[8] L. Young and K.T.. McDonald, IEEE Trans. Electron
Devices ED-35 (1988) 2052.
[9] See, for instance, H. Riege, CERN, CLIC-NOTE 105
(1989).
[10] K.L. Kliewer, Phys. Rev. B14 (1975) 1414.
[11] J. Endriz, Stanford Electronics Lab. Tech. Rep. 5207-3
(1970).
[12] K. Halbach, J. de Phys. Coll. (1983) CI-211.
[13] Here undulator field uniformity is reported as the maxi-
mum deviation of the pole tip fields (on axis) from the
mean pole tip field.
[14] T.M. Tran and J.S. Wurtele, Computer Phys. Commun.
54 (1989) 263; and
T.M. Trans and J.S. Wurtele, Phys. Rep. 195 (1990) 1.
[15] J.C. Gallardo and C. Pellegrini, Opt. Commun. 77 (1990)
45.
[16] C. Pellegrini et al., these Proceedings (14th Int. Free
Electron Laser Conf., Kobe, Japan, 1992) Nucl. Instr.
and Meth. A331 (1993) 223.
V. PROJECTS/PROPOSALS