A Short Introduction To Free Electron Lasers: The Cern Accelerator School

THE CERN ACCELERATOR SCHOOL
A Short Introduction to Free Electron Lasers

Andy Wolski
The Cockcroft Institute, and the University of Liverpool, UK
CAS General Accelerator Physics
Granada, Spain, November 2012
Free Electron Lasers
Free electron lasers (FELs) are sources of synchrotron
radiation that can produce radiation with peak power and
brightness orders of magnitude larger than the radiation
produced by conventional sources such as dipoles and wigglers.
In this lecture, we shall:
consider ways to enhance the intensity of radiation from
undulators (developing the principles behind FELs);
discuss some of the dierent types of free electron laser.
CAS, Granada, 2012 1 Free Electron Lasers
Radiation from an Oscillating Electric Charge
Consider a single oscillating electron. The amplitude of the
electric and magnetic elds in the radiation produced by the
electron are proportional to the charge on the electron.
The total radiation power from a Hertzian dipole is:
P =
ck
4
l
2
q
2
12
0
. (1)
We might expect the radiation power from an undulator to
increase with the square of the bunch charge: but in practice,
the power increases linearly with the charge. Why?
Synchrotron Radiation from an Undulator
Recall that synchrotron radiation is produced from an
undulator by the oscillations induced on electrons passing
through the undulator.
Incoherent Radiation from an Undulator
Consider a bunch of ultra-relativistic electrons with relativistic
factor , passing through an undulator. In the lab frame, the
bunch length is
z
, and the undulator period is
u
.
In the rest frame of the electrons, the bunch length is
z
, and
the undulator period is
u
/.
Typically,
z
is a few mm, and
u
is a few cm; but if is large:
z

u
2
. (2)
In other words, in the rest frame of the electrons, the bunch
length is much larger than the undulator period.
Therefore, in the rest frame of the electrons, the electrons are
oscillating at dierent (random) phases.
Incoherent Radiation from an Undulator
The total electric eld is the sum of the elds from all the
electrons:
E
total
=
N
n=1
E
0
e
i
n
, (3)
where E
0
is the eld due to a single electron, and
n
is the
phase of the electric eld from the n
th
electron.
Since the electrons are
oscillating at random phases,
summing the elds is equivalent
to a random walk in the
complex plane.
Incoherent Radiation
Since the radiation is produced from particles oscillating at
random phases, the generation is said to be incoherent.
In that case:
|E
total
|
NE
0
. (4)
For a large number of electrons N, the total eld strength is
proportional to the square root of the number of electrons.
Since the energy carried by an electromagnetic wave is
proportional to the square of the eld amplitude, the power of
incoherent synchrotron radiation from an undulator is
proportional to the current in the undulator.
Coherent Radiation
If all the electrons are oscillating in phase (or with phase
dierence strictly related to the distance between the
electrons), then the elds in the synchrotron radiation add
coherently. This situation can be represented by:
n

0
, (5)
where
0
is a constant. Then:
|E
total
| NE
0
. (6)
The total eld is proportional to the
number of electrons, and the
radiation power will be proportional to
the square of the number of electrons.
The radiation is emitted coherently.
This can occur if the bunch length is
less than the radiation wavelength.
Coherent Radiation from an Undulator
Since the number of electrons in a bunch can be very large, the
enhancement of radiation power from coherent emission
compared to incoherent emission is potentially dramatic.
Recall that an undulator produces radiation at a wavelength:
=

u
2
2
_
1 +
K
2
2
_
. (7)
The condition for coherent radiation can be written:
z

u
/
2
. (8)
This condition can be dicult to achieve; however, one eect
of the interaction between electrons and radiation with an
undulator can be the development of microbunches within a
beam.
If the size of each microbunch is less than a radiation
wavelength, then each microbunch can radiate coherently.
Electrons in a bunch passing through an undulator can interact
with the radiation produced by other electrons within the
bunch. The forces on the electrons from the radiation eld
leads to a transfer of energy between the electrons and the
radiation.
In the low-gain regime, the radiation intensity can be
treated as approximately constant. There is some transfer
of energy between the electrons and the radiation, but the
main eect is a change in the motion of the electrons so
that microbunches start to develop, with length of order
of the radiation wavelength.
In the high-gain regime, the microbunching becomes strong
enough that coherent radiation gives a rapid increase in
radiation intensity. This in turn enhances the
microbunching: the result is a rapid exponential increase in
the radiation intensity with distance along the undulator.
Types of FEL
FELs can be categorised according to how the microbunching
is achieved. For example:
In a resonator FEL, the incoherent radiation produced in an
undulator is trapped within an optical cavity. Each electron
bunch passing through the undulator adds to the radiation
intensity, which leads to an increase in the rate at which
microbunching takes place.
In a seeded amplier FEL, a radiation pulse (e.g. from a
laser) is co-propagated with an electron bunch in an
undulator. This initiates microbunching, which then
develops rapidly along the undulator as the electrons within
each microbunch radiate coherently.
A SASE (Self-Amplied Spontaneous Emission) FEL works
in a similar way to a seeded amplier, except that the initial
microbunching is initiated by the spontaneous radiation
within the undulator, rather than from an external seed.
Types of FEL
Each type of FEL has certain advantages and disadvantages,
and can be suitable for meeting dierent user requirements.
For example, the lack of suitable materials to build x-ray
mirrors, and the lack of suitable sources for seeding an x-ray
FEL means that x-ray FELs have to work on the SASE
principle.
But since the FEL pulse eectively grows from noise (i.e.
small random perturbations in the bunch density), it can be
dicult to control the output from a SASE FEL. One feature
of this is that SASE FELs lack temporal coherence, i.e. the
power (and wavelength) within a single FEL pulse can uctuate
signicantly over the duration of the pulse.
A Resonator FEL
In a resonator FEL, an undulator is placed between two mirrors
that reect and focus the synchrotron radiation produced by
the undulator. Electrons are steered onto a trajectory along the
undulator using dipoles at either end.
Successive electron bunches interact with the radiation stored
in the undulator, leading to an increase in the radiation power,
and to microbunching in the electron bunches. Some of the
radiation can be extracted using an out-coupling hole in one of
the mirrors.
A Seeded Amplier FEL
A SASE FEL: Euro XFEL
A SASE FEL typically consists of a long linac, feeding one or
more long undulators...
The European XFEL, presently under construction near
Hamburg, is scheduled to start user operation in 2016.
Total length 3.4 km
Electron beam energy 17.5 GeV
Radiation wavelength 0.05 - 6 nm
X-ray pulse length <100 fs
Peak brilliance 5 10
33
/s/mm
2
/mrad
2
/0.1% bw
The Physics of Free Electron Lasers
To understand the properties of FELs, it is necessary to solve
the equations of motion for particles in the combined elds of
the undulator and the radiation, and the equations describing
the radiation.
Fundamentally, the equations describing the motion of the
electrons and the radiation are just Maxwells equations,
together with the Lorentz force equation.
But since the equations need to be solved self-consistently (i.e.
taking into account simultaneously the changes in the particle
distribution and the radiation) the full solutions become
mathematically very complicated.
Low-Gain Regime: the Pendulum Equations
To illustrate the mathematical analysis of an FEL, we shall
consider the low-gain regime. This is dened by the assumption
that the intensity of the radiation is approximately constant.
The trajectory of an electron in the undulator is given by:
x =
K
k
u
sin(k
u
z), (9)
where x is the horizontal transverse position with respect to the
axis of the undulator, and z is the longitudinal distance along
the axis of the undulator.
Now suppose that there is an electromagnetic wave also
travelling through the undulator, with electric eld given by:
E
x
= E
0
cos(kz t +), (10)
where /k = c.
The force on the electron from the electric eld leads to a
change in energy of the electron.
The rate of change of the energy of the electron is given by:
mc
2
d
dt
= eE
x
dx
dt
=
ecE
0
K
cos(k
u
z) cos(kz t +), (11)
=
ecE
0
K
2
_
cos( +) +cos(
+)
_
, (12)
where the ponderomotive phase is given by:
= (k +k
u
)z t, (13)
and:
= (k k
u
)z t. (14)
We shall manipulate equation (12), to derive equations
describing how the energy and ponderomotive phase vary as
a function of distance z along the undulator.
Our immediate goal is to eliminate the time t from equation
(12). This will give us an equation describing how the energy
of a particle varies with position along the undulator.
The change of energy is a result of the interaction with the
radiation eld in the undulator. Hence, we will be able to
calculate the change in energy of the radiation that results
from the interaction with the particles in the electron beam.
To begin, we write an expression for the position z of a particle
along the undulator at time t:
z = v
z
t +z
0
, (15)
where z
0
is a constant. The longitudinal velocity v
z
varies along
the undulator because of the oscillation in the magnetic eld of
the undulator. For an ultra-relativistic particle:
v
z

_
1
1
2
2
_
c
cK
2
2
2
_
1 +cos(2k
u
z)
_
. (16)
The average longitudinal velocity is:
v
z
=
_
1
1 +K
2
/2
2
2
_
c. (17)
Using:
dz
dt
v
z
, (18)
we nd from equations (13) and (14):
d
dz
= k
u
_
1 +K
2
/2
2
2
_
k, (19)
and:
d
dz
= k
u
_
1 +K
2
/2
2
2
_
k. (20)
Let us suppose that the radiation in the undulator has
wavelength = 2/k, where:
=
_
1 +K
2
/2
2
2
r
_
u
, (21)
for some particular value of
r
. If the electrons have energy
such that
r
, then will be equal to the wavelength of the
synchrotron radiation produced by the electrons in the
undulator.
In that case:
d
dz
k
u
, and
d
dz
2k
u
. (22)
The ponderomotive phase varies slowly as an electron moves
along the undulator, whereas the phase

varies rapidly. As a
result, over several periods of the undulator, the term in

on
the right hand side of equation (12) averages to zero, while the
term in can lead to some signicant change in .
The nal step is to introduce the variable to describe the
energy of the electron:
=

r
r
. (23)
Assuming that is small (i.e.
r
), equations (19) and (12)
become respectively:
d
dz
= 2k
u
, (24)
and:
d
dz
=
eE
0

K
2
2
r
mc
2
sin(). (25)
Equations (24) and (25) take the same form as the equations
of motion for a pendulum: they are therefore known as the
pendulum equations.
Note that equation (25) is written in terms of the modied
undulator parameter

K, dened by:
K = K
_
J
0
_
K
2
4 +2K
2
_
J
1
_
K
2
4 +2K
2
__
, (26)
where J
0
(x) and J
1
(x) are Bessel functions.
This takes into account the modulation of the longitudinal
component of the velocity of the electrons, which aects the
coupling between the electrons and the radiation.
For K = 1, the modied undulator parameter is

K 0.91.
The dynamics within an FEL in the low-gain regime can be
represented on a plot of versus . Note that represents the
phase of the energy transfer between a particle and the
radiation. As an electron moves along the undulator, it traces a
line in the plot of versus .
Consider a bunch of particles with initial energy = 0 (i.e. with
=
r
). Since a typical bunch length is much larger than the
radiation wavelength, we can assume that the particles cover
the whole range of from to .
As the particles move along the undulator, some of the
particles gain energy from the radiation; others lose energy to
the radiation. Overall, the net energy transfer between the
bunch and the radiation is zero.
Now consider what happens if > 0, i.e. >
r
. There are still
some particles that gain energy, while others lose energy.
However, the symmetry is broken: there is now a net energy
transfer from the bunch to the radiation.
Low-Gain Regime: the Gain Equation
Consider a pulse of radiation with some frequency that
propagates along the undulator with a bunch of electrons that
have energy such that =
r
.
Using the description (developed in the previous slides) of the
interaction between the radiation and the electrons, it is
possible to show that the intensity of the radiation changes by
a factor (1 +G()), where:
G() =
2
r
e

K
2
L
3
u
n
e
3
r
u
g(), (27)
where r
e
= e
2
/4
0
m
e
c
2
is the classical radius of the electron,
n
e
is the number of electrons per unit volume in the bunch, and
L
u
is the total length of the undulator.
Note that the gain depends on the degree of overlap between
the electron beam and the radiation beam: equation (27)
assumes an optimal overlap.
Low-Gain Regime: Madeys Theorem
The gain function g() and the dimensionless parameter are
dened by:
g() =
d
d
_
sin
2
()
2
_
, = N
u
r
. (28)
r
is the frequency of the spontaneous synchrotron radiation
produced in the undulator by electrons with =
r
.
Low-Gain Regime: Madeys Theorem
Equation (27) allows us to work out the gain (in the low-gain
regime) of an oscillator FEL, given the electron beam and
undulator parameters.
The dependence of the gain on the wavelength is contained
within the function g(): note that this is the derivative of the
function sinc
2
() that describes the line width of the
spontaneous radiation. This relationship between the FEL gain
(in the low-gain regime) and the line width of the spontaneous
undulator radiation is known as Madeys theorem.
Note that for given electron energy, the gain is a function
(through the parameter ) of the radiation wavelength. For
some wavelengths, the gain is positive; for others, it is negative.
In practice, the gain function determines the frequency and
bandwidth of light from a low-gain oscillator FEL.
Example of a Resonator FEL: the ALICE IR FEL
As an example of a resonator FEL, consider the IR FEL on the
ALICE accelerator test facility at Daresbury Laboratory, UK.
Beam energy 26.5 MeV
Bunch charge 80 pC
Bunch length 1 mm
Transverse beam size 700 m
Undulator parameter, K 1.0
Undulator period 27 mm
Undulator length 1.08 m
The radiation produced from the undulator has wavelength:
=

u
2
2
_
1 +
K
2
2
_
7.2m. (29)
Since
z
/
2
, without microbunching the FEL operates in
the low-gain regime.
Substituting values into the gain equation (27), and assuming
an optimal overlap between the electron beam and the
radiation beam within the undulator, we nd:
maximum G 0.27, (30)
i.e. the maximum gain (in the low-gain regime) is about 27%.
Once the radiation starts to build up in the optical cavity, it
can cause microbunching to develop. There is a limit in the
amount of energy that can be extracted from each bunch. The
radiation intensity saturates when the rate of energy extracted
from the electron beam equals the rate at which energy is lost
through the out-coupling hole.
The time structure of the FEL output can be observed using a
fast detector.
Each machine pulse of 100 s contains 1625 bunches.
By tting the exponential rise in intensity, it is possible to
estimate the gain.
The gain and intensity both depend on the length of the
optical cavity, as well as on things like the overlap between the
radiation and the electron beam. The power output can be
high even when the gain is low, if the power level at which
saturation is reached is high.
SASE: Self-Amplied Spontaneous Emission
Resonator FELs have limits in the wavelengths they can
achieve, because of the need for high-quality reectors.
Seeded amplier FELs also become more dicult at shorter
wavelengths, because of the lack of convenient
short-wavelength high power lasers to provide the seed.
To construct an x-ray FEL, we need to exploit the fact that
the spontaneous radiation from an undulator can act as the
seed required to generate microbunches which then radiate
coherently: this process is known as Self-Amplied
Spontaneous Emission (SASE).
SASE FEL Power Curve
A. Wolski, G. Penn, A. Sessler, J. Wurtele, PRST-AB, 7, 080701 (2004).
The plot on the previous slide illustrates some characteristic
features of the power of a SASE FEL as a function of
undulator length:
There is an initial slow increase in radiation power as
spontaneous radiation is generated, and microbunching
starts to happen (the low-gain regime).
This is followed by a rapid (exponential) increase in
radiation power, as microbunching develops in the electron
beam (driven by the radiation): this is the high-gain
regime.
Eventually, the power saturates once maximum
microbunching is achieved. There is even some drop in
power as the electron beam re-absorbs some of the energy
from the radiation.
Since the radiation in a SASE FEL grows from random
uctuations in the beam density, it is dicult to control the
point in the undulator at which the beam enters the high-gain
regime. This means that to minimise uctuations in output
power, it necessary to build the undulator long enough for the
power to reach saturation and no shorter!
Properties of SASE FELs: Gain Length
The detailed analysis of a high-gain FEL is complicated, and
we do not investigate it further here. However, some of the
main results can be stated fairly simply.
The rst important result is for the gain length. In the
high-gain regime, the radiation power in an FEL increases
exponentially with distance z, so that:
P(z) = P(0) exp(z/L
g0
). (31)
The gain length L
g0
is given by:
L
g0
=
1
3
_

3
r
u
2
2
r
e

K
2
n
e
_
1
3
. (32)
This expression neglects the eects of energy spread and
transverse emittance of the electron beam (hence the subscript
0 on the gain length L
g0
).
Properties of SASE FELs: Bandwidth
The second important result is for the bandwidth of the
amplication. We already saw in Madeys theorem that the
FEL gain in the low-gain regime depended on the wavelength
of the radiation: the same is true in the high-gain regime.
A useful measure of the bandwidth is given by the FEL
parameter
FEL
(sometimes known as the Pierce parameter):
FEL
=
1
4
u
L
g0
. (33)
Typically,
FEL
is of order 10
3
(so L
g0
50
u
).
At z = 4L
g0
, the full width at half maximum of the gain curve is
approximately 2
FEL
. This drops to about
FEL
at z = 16L
g0
.
The bandwidth of a SASE FEL is given by:
= 3
2
FEL
L
g0
z
. (34)
Properties of SASE FELs: Saturation
Finally, it is possible to derive an expression for the level at
which the radiation power from an FEL saturates. Saturation
occurs when the amplitude of the longitudinal density
modulation reaches a maximum.
At saturation, the radiation power is given by:
P
rad

FEL
P
ebeam
. (35)
That is, the maximum radiation power as a fraction of the
electron beam power is given by the FEL parameter
FEL
.
Final Remarks
FEL physics is a fascinating and challenging branch of
accelerator science, and a highly active area of research.
In this lecture, we have outlined some of the basic principles,
and given just a few of the key results.
There are many variations on the principles and designs that
have been outlined here. The aim is not just to achieve the
maximum possible brightness (at the shortest possible
wavelengths), but to be able to manipulate the properties of
the radiation, e.g. to provide extremely short (<fs) pulses,
temporal coherence, precise synchronisation with external laser
pulses...
New ideas and techniques are regularly being proposed and
actively developed, and new applications being found.
Final Remarks
IR images of a cell with
sub-micron resolution.
The images are produced
by illuminating a specimen
with light from an IR
FEL, and scanning across
the specimen with a
near-eld optical
microscope (SNOM).
Comparison of images at
dierent wavelengths
allows determination of
the chemical structure of
the cell.
A. Cricenti et al,
Biphysical Journal 85,
27052710 (2003).
References and Acknowledgements
A useful reference:
P. Schmuser, M. Dohlus, Jorg Rossbach, Ultraviolet and
Soft X-Ray Free-Electron Lasers, Springer Tracts in
Modern Physics, Volume 229 (2008).
I am extremely grateful to sta in STFC/ASTeC for providing
and supporting access to the unique accelertor test facility,
ALICE; in particular to the real FEL experts David Dunning
and Neil Thompson, for the opportunity to work on the ALICE
FEL, for many interesting and enlightening conversations, and
for help with preparing this lecture.

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THE CERN ACCELERATOR SCHOOL

A Short Introduction to Free Electron Lasers

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