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  • Open Access

Stability enhancement of a self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron laser with bunching containment

Huaiqian Yi1, Xiaofan Wang1,*, Li Zeng1, Yifan Liang1, and Weiqing Zhang2,†

  • *Contact author: wangxf@mail.iasf.ac.cn
  • †Contact author: weiqingzhang@dicp.ac.cn
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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 28, 050703 – Published 30 May, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xbkr-n5h7

Abstract

The self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) mechanism, the fundamental operating principle of numerous free-electron laser (FEL) facilities, is driven by electron beam shot noise and leads to significant fluctuations in the output pulse energy. This study presents a robust method for improving pulse energy stability by incorporating a dispersion element that introduces longitudinal dispersion into the electron beam during the exponential growth phase of the SASE process. At this phase, the density modulation of the electron beam, characterized by the bunching factor, undergoes large fluctuations, resulting in substantial variations in the emitted radiation power. The introduction of longitudinal dispersion allows for controlled manipulation of the bunching distribution, suppressing fluctuations and enhancing pulse energy stability. The stabilization mechanism is explained in this paper, and its impact on the radiation properties is analyzed for both the standard SASE scheme and advanced lasing setups, such as a two-stage lasing process for two-color pulse generation, with the initial stage operating in SASE mode.

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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 28, 050703– Published 30 May, 2025
  • Received 11 March 2025
  • Accepted 15 May 2025
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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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