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Experimental demonstration of an L-shaped corrugated wakefield structure for beam shaping at a high-repetition-rate free-electron laser

Weilun Qin1,2,3,*, Marc Guetg1,†, Jiacheng Wu1,4, Winfried Decking1, Nina Golubeva1, Naresh Kujala5, Shan Liu1, Lukas Müller1, and Torsten Wohlenberg1

  • *Contact author: weilun.qin@desy.de, qinwl@ihep.ac.cn
  • †Contact author: marc.guetg@desy.de
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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 29, 103405 – Published 20 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/r4nx-blvw

Abstract

We demonstrate the first realization of electron beam and x-ray pulse shaping with a corrugated wakefield structure at a pulsed-mode megahertz-repetition-rate hard x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). This is achieved by an L-shaped corrugated structure with low-beta optics and a collimator. Variable streaking direction and signature of quadrupole wakefield compensation are observed by controlling the position of the electron beam relative to the corrugated plates. Spectral analysis at 7 keV indicates a reduction of the reconstructed x-ray pulse duration by an approximate factor of 4 compared to the standard self-amplified spontaneous emission mode of the European x-ray free-electron laser. X-ray pulses with uniform properties along a train of 100 pulses at a 1.125 MHz repetition rate are generated under 10 Hz pulse mode. These results are a step toward tailoring the temporal and spectral domain of x-ray pulses at megahertz repetition rates with high flexibility and compatibility.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 29, 103405– Published 20 October, 2026
  • Received 2 September 2025
  • Accepted 24 September 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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