Attosecond-Angstrom free-electron-laser towards the cold beam limit

A. F. Habib (), G. G. Manahan, P. Scherkl, T. Heinemann, A. Sutherland, R. Altuiri, B. M. Alotaibi, M. Litos, J. Cary, T. Raubenheimer, E. Hemsing, M. J. Hogan, J. B. Rosenzweig, P. H. Williams, B. W. J. McNeil and B. Hidding ()
Additional contact information
A. F. Habib: University of Strathclyde
G. G. Manahan: University of Strathclyde
P. Scherkl: University of Strathclyde
T. Heinemann: University of Strathclyde
A. Sutherland: University of Strathclyde
R. Altuiri: University of Strathclyde
B. M. Alotaibi: University of Strathclyde
M. Litos: University of Colorado
J. Cary: University of Colorado
T. Raubenheimer: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
E. Hemsing: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
M. J. Hogan: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
J. B. Rosenzweig: University of California Los Angeles
P. H. Williams: The Cockcroft Institute
B. W. J. McNeil: University of Strathclyde
B. Hidding: University of Strathclyde

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Electron beam quality is paramount for X-ray pulse production in free-electron-lasers (FELs). State-of-the-art linear accelerators (linacs) can deliver multi-GeV electron beams with sufficient quality for hard X-ray-FELs, albeit requiring km-scale setups, whereas plasma-based accelerators can produce multi-GeV electron beams on metre-scale distances, and begin to reach beam qualities sufficient for EUV FELs. Here we show, that electron beams from plasma photocathodes many orders of magnitude brighter than state-of-the-art can be generated in plasma wakefield accelerators (PWFAs), and then extracted, captured, transported and injected into undulators without significant quality loss. These ultrabright, sub-femtosecond electron beams can drive hard X-FELs near the cold beam limit to generate coherent X-ray pulses of attosecond-Angstrom class, reaching saturation after only 10 metres of undulator. This plasma-X-FEL opens pathways for advanced photon science capabilities, such as unperturbed observation of electronic motion inside atoms at their natural time and length scale, and towards higher photon energies.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36592-z

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