448 Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A296 (1990) 448-450
North-Holland
OPTICAL-KLYSTRON CONFIGURATION FOR A HIGH-GAIN X-RAY FREE ELECTRON LASER
Juan C. GALLARDO and Claudio PELLEGRINI
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
We present the theory and numerical simulations of the performance of an X-ray free electron laser in the amplified
spontaneous-emission mode with an optical-klystron undulator -configuration. This device can produce picosecond pulses of high
brightness with a significantly shorter undulator than a conventional FEL.
l. Introduction
The amplified spontaneous-emission (ASE) regime
of a free electron laser (FEL) can be used to produce
coherent soft X-ray radiation in a long undulator (5 5 L
-< 10 m) [1-6]. In such a regime, the initial incoherent
radiation, with an optical power proportional to the
number of electrons, is amplified by the electron beam
itself as it traverses the interaction region subject to the
combined periodic magnetic and radiation fields . This
collective phenomenon leads to exponential growth un-
til the system reaches saturation [5,6]. To achieve this
situation, the undulator has to be made sufficiently long
and the accelerator has to provide a high-brightness
electron beam, well above the values required for a
multipass oscillator experiment. However, 1 .3E has a
number of advantages in comparison with an oscillator :
first, good-reflectivity soft X-ray mirrors are not needed ;
second, an ASE-FEL only needs a single pulse travers-
ing the undulator reducing the beam-loading problem
[7] in the electron-beam accelerator, and thus makes it
easier to produce a high-brightness, nearly monochro-
matic beam.
In this work we discuss one possible alternative
undulator configuration that will reduce its length,
keeping the total power output of the laser approxi-
mately constant. An optical klystron [8,9] has been used
to improve the gain of FELs in a weak optical field and
small gain . We show that the same concept is useful in a
short-wavelength ASE-FEL thus allowing for a mod-
erately long undulator. An optical klystron consists of
two undulators separated by either a long drift space or
a shorter dispersive magnet. This magnet configuration
translates the energy spread created in the first Lndula-
tor section (modulator) into significant changes in the
electron phase ~ = (k + ko )z - wt when the electron
pulse arrives at the second undulator section (radiator).
If these changes are arranged in a suitable manner, we
can achieve significant bunching and, consequently, a
larger optical gain.
Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)
We first use a simple one-dimensional linearized
theory to obtain an approximate estimate of the FEL
field enhancement produced by the optical-klystron
magnet configuration ; then we numerically solve the
complete nonlinear set of one-dimensional FEL equa-
tions, including both energy spread and emittance. Our
results show that an optical klystron is a very attractive
alternative to achieve saturation in an ASE-FEL, with
less than half the undulator length of a conventional
FEL and producing the same output power.
2. Theory
A free electron laser in an optical-klystron configura-
tion uses a beam of relativistic electrons going through a
periodic magnetic field consisting of two undulators
separated by a dispersive section . The spontaneous
emission of the electron beam produces an optical field
which, in combination with the undulator magnetic
field, acts back over the electrons to introduce an en-
ergy modulation in the beam. This energy modulation is
transformed into bunching of the electrons as they go
through the dispersive section. The optimal position of
the dispersive magnet occurs at the point where the
laser power starts to grow exponentially, which corre-
sponds to a gain length LG , defined as the distance for
e-folding of the laser power. This forced bunching re-
sults in a discontinuous jump of the gain as the elec-
trons enter the radiator undulator .
r o describe iris system below saturation, we use me
linearized, 1D FEL theory for a helical undulator given
in refs. [5,6] . The FEL dynamics are then described by
defining three collective variables [5] for the laser field
X, the bunching function Y and the energy spread Z:
Y = (exp( - i4o)A), (1b)
1
Z= 1 (exp(-i~o)rl), (1c)
 J. C. Gallardo, C Pellegrini l Optical-klystron configuration for a high-gain FEL 449

where ~o is the initial electron phase, 0 = %b - uGo and and s =1 m. After the dispersion section, the dynamical
r! = ( Y - Yo)/Yo ; variables will evolve as in the first section, but now with
)1/3
the initial conditions
K)~o )2/3 4 1rree2Ne
P = 8irYc Y
Y> (TD) - Y< (TD) - gZ< (TD) = Y< (TD)(1 - rhl~)
is the FEL parameter with yo the initial electron energy, (6b)
X o the wiggler period and K the undulator parameter;
re is the classical electron radius and NC is the particle (6c)
density of the electron beam. In the limit of small p, the Therefore we can immediately write the laser field as
FEL equations of motion [6], with initial conditions
X(0) = Z(®) = 0 and Y(0) -- Yo, are
X= iSX- rY, (2a)
(2b) This last expression shows that the enhancement factor
Y = Z,
introduced by an optical klystron is given by a factor
Z = -X. (2c) -- -s2, which for the parameters considered in our simu-
Here S is the detuning parameter: S = (Yô - YR)/2YRP, lations is of the order of 10 3 . To obtain an equivalent
with YR = ( A o/2AXl + K 2 ), and X = d X/dz with T = growth in the field in the conventional FEL configura-
4%pN, N being the number of undulator periods. tion, the length of the undulator can be estimated from
Nontrivial solutions of the form exp(iluT) exist if W exp(ip r =10 3, which for the value of p used co:c~:-
satisfies the characteristic equation W( ft - S) + 1= 0. sponds to -- 400 magnet periods.
In high-gain self-spontaneous emission, the maximum We have used a 1D simulation code to solve the full
gain rate is obtained with S = 0; keeping the fastest- set of FEL equations, including energy spread and
growing root, we write emittance, and to calculate the output laser power of an
ASE-FEL. To simulate a realistic electron beam with
X = - 11 Yo p i exP(i#rT ) ~ ( 3a) energy spread and emittance we use a c :riform distribu-
Y= ~ Yo exp(i#1T), (3b) tion in ~o and a product of a Gaussian distribution in
energy spread, transverse position and injection angle.
Z = i1 YoJAr exP(iWiz) , ( 3 c) In table 1 we list the parameters of the electron beam
where Pr = -,'(1- iF3 ) and Wi is the complex conjugate. and undulator. As illustrated in fig. 1, the saturation
The dispersive section can be taken as an instanta- power achieved by an optical klystron is larger than the
neous interaction at TD with the following constraints one obtained with a standard w;ggler and, more im-
on the dynamical variables (X< and X, denote the portant, we observe significant power levels at less than
values right before and after the dispersion interaction, half the undulator length . As expected, introducing the
respectively) : beam energy spread and emittance reduces the output
(4a) power level of the laser; however, in the high-gain
regime, a larger gain is observed than in the case of the
(4b) standard undulator case, even for an energy spread
Z> Z<, AY/Y as large as p. Although our results were obtained
in the context of a 1D theory, for the set of parameters
where 2 = pkD with
used, the gain length of the device is shorter than the
2 ~ z. 2
( e s ")
D= 2 ) fdZ' J dz"BD(Z
Y mc o 0

A simple example of a dispersive section is given by a Table 1

three-section magnet of total length s and field Electron and undulator parameters used in the simulations
lR nez <s/4~ Parameters

BD(z) _ -Bo, s/4 < z < 3s/4, Wavelength [nm1 2.5

Energy [GeV] 1.02
Bo, 3s/4 < z <_ s.
p x 1o , 1 .2
3 8.1
This configuration gives D = â( eBo/mc 2 Y )2s and L [m]
1.0
Undulator period [cm]
satisfies the condition that the first and second integral 0.75
Gain length LG [m]
over z of she magnetic field must vanish so as *Lo have Peak current [A] 400
no transverse and angular beam displacements. The Normalized emittance [mm mrad] 1.0
parameter 2 turns out to be -" 2500 for a 1 GeV External focusing ß * [m] 1.0
electron beam p =1.2 ::10-3, X = 2.5 rim, Bo =1 T
III. THEORY
450 J. C. Gallardo, C. Pellegrini / Optical-klystron configuration for a high-gain FEL

the high-gain collective regime, making a soft X-ray

FEL in the ASE mode more feasible by reducing the
undulator length by one half and maintaining the laser
output power .
N

Acknowledgements
0
w We wish to thank J. Goldstein for advice on the
ôa numerical algorithm . This work was supported by the
U.S. Department of Energy under Contract number
DE-AC02-76-CH0016.

References

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0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
z / LENGTH - UNDULATOR 259 .
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aE = 0.2`x.
[5] R. Bonifacio, L. Narducci and C. Pellegrini, Opt. Com-
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fects will not significantly modify our conclusions [10].
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[9] A.S. Artamanov et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. 177 (1980)
In summary, we have shown that the optical-klystron 247.
configuration of an FEL can be used to advantage in [10] Li-Hua Yu and S. Krinky, Phys. Rev. A35 (1987) 3406.