The Photon Arrival and Length Monitor (PALM), a THz streak camera device developed by PSI for non-destructive hard x-ray measurements of photon pulse length and arrival time versus a pump laser[1], was brought to the SACLA XFEL[2] in Japan in a cross-calibration temporal diagnostics campaign after an initial experiment where only the PALM was being used[3]. The device was used with 9 keV pink beam and a 9.0 and 8.8 keV two-color mode, successfully measuring the temporal ifnromation of the pulses for several different FEL operating conditions. The most interesting achievement is the PALM’s ability to measure two arrival times of the two colorors as tey are shifted against each other by the FEL, opening up new possibilities in temporal accuracy for two-color experiments. SwissFEL will employ two such devices at the end stations for use by both operators and experimenters to improve the operation of the FEL and to better interpret experimental data. References [1]P. N. Juranić et. al, Journal of Instrumentation (2014) 9. [2]T. Ishikawa et. al., Nature Photonics (2012) 6(8). [3] P. N. Juranić et. al., Optics Express (2014) 22.

This article reports the progress in the beamlines at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron LAser (SACLA). The beamline optical and diagnostics systems have been upgraded to further accelerate the scientific applications of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). End-station instruments have also been developed to provide user-friendly experimental platforms which allow efficient data collection. Along with the upgrades of beamlines and experimental stations, we have established reliable and efficient procedures of the beamline operation.

FLASH operates two distinguished undulator sections driven by one linear accelerator. In the 11th year of user operation the grown demands for detailed photon beam performances are doubled approached. The more complex machine settings and setup times require a more and more efficient determination of its characteristics concerning electron- and photon-beams. The photon diagnostics systems, e.g. gas monitor detection, photon-ion spectroscopy, or diffractive tools, not only have to deal on a regular basis with fundamental wavelengths between 4nm and 90nm, also they have to be reliable from 1µJ up to 1mJ of average single pulse energy. For the success of the experiments the error bars of many diagnostics measurements need to be pushed into their current limits and developments to go further are always issued. Especial, the pulse duration in conjunction with the spectral width has been accessed in the last year. Direct approaches of fundamental wavelengths below the Nitrogene K-edge and higher harmonics in and below the water window were achieved. While in principal distinguished to each other, the photon diagnostics tools of FLASH1 and FLASH2 add-up to a more complete understanding of the other. Together they allow for a better perspective towards further developments and a more suitable use of beam times. The intermingled knowledge of electron- and photon-beams is essential for an FEL particular in simultaneous operation mode. Examples out of regular user operation and distinguished FEL-studies are given to illustrate the current state of the photon diagnostics at FLASH.

The European XFEL is a 4th generation light source based on the Self Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) FreeElectron-Laser concept. It is currently being commissioned in North- Germany. The core installation is a 17.5 GeV superconducting accelerator driving 3 SASE lines with photon energies from 1 to beyond 20 keV range with a maximum of 27.000 pulses per second. The international facility is organized as a limited liability company with shareholders from the contributing countries. DESY has taken over the leadership of the accelerator construction consortium, and will be in charge of the operation of the accelerator complex. The facility was set up with contributions from the 11 shareholder countries, either being hardware systems and/or staff or cash contributions. The construction is almost complete, and the commissioning phase has started by the end of 2015. This contribution will report the status of the accelerator complex with emphasis on the commissioning of the accelerator and an outlook to the commissioning of the SASE 1 FEL line.

The development of free electron laser (FEL) sources, which provide extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft x-ray radiation of unprecedented coherence and almost transform-limited pulse structure, has opened up the realm of XUV/x-ray non-linear optics. In particular, XUV four-wave-mixing (XFWM) experiments may allow, e.g., to probe correlations among low-energy excitations and core states, and to access the “mesoscopic” wavevector range (0.1-1 nm-1), inaccessible so far and fundamental to investigate nanostructures and disordered systems. In this manuscript we report on the latest advances and future developments of the TIMER setup at FERMI (Elettra, Italy), specifically conceived for XFWM experiments. In particular, we discuss the improvements on the XUV-probe and on the pump transport. Moreover, TIMER and mini-TIMER (a test setup available at the DiProI end station) are also suitable for time-resolved second order nonlinear experiments, which are intrinsically surface sensitive due to symmetry restrictions. We hereby discuss the foreseen extension to the XUV of interface specific probing of electronic processes, for example charge and energy transfer, with chemical specificity.

Thanks to the use of seeding, modern high gain FELs can now produce high power pulses with a longitudinal coherence much higher than normally available from SASE FELs. This possibility of fully coherent FEL pulses in the X-ray spectral range has several benefits for user’s experiment and also it opens the door to new experimental possibilities such as coherent control experiments. The achievement of a full coherence in the FEL pulses does not only requires a coherent seed but also needs an electron beam whose properties does not change over the length of the final FEL pulse. For this reason, requirements for electron beam quality in seeded FELs are significantly higher than for SASE FEL. Starting from the FERMI experience we report in the talk examples of small electron beam perturbations that have a large impact on FEL properties.

We discuss theoretical background and experimental verification of advanced schemes for X-ray FELs using variable gap undulators (harmonic lasing self-seeded FEL, reverse taper etc.) Harmonic lasing in XFELs is an opportunity to extend operating range of existing and planned X-ray FEL user facilities. Contrary to nonlinear harmonic generation, harmonic lasing can provide much more intense, stable, and narrow-band FEL beam which is easier to handle due to the suppressed fundamental. Another interesting application of harmonic lasing is Harmonic Lasing Self-Seeded (HLSS) FEL that allows to improve longitudinal coherence and spectral power of a SASE FEL. Recently this concept was successfully tested at the soft X-ray FEL user facility FLASH in the wavelength range between 4.5 nm and 15 nm. That was also the first experimental demonstration of harmonic lasing in a high-gain FEL and at a short wavelength (before it worked only in infrared FEL oscillators). Another innovative scheme that was tested at FLASH2 is the reverse tapering that can be used to produce circularly polarized radiation from a dedicated afterburner with strongly suppressed linearly polarized radiation from the main undulator. This scheme can also be used for an efficient background-free production of harmonics in an afterburner. Experiments on the frequency doubling that allowed to reach the shortest wavelength at FLASH as well as on post-saturation tapering to produce a record intencity in XUV regime are also discussed.

We have experimentally measured and characterized a Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) Free Electron Laser (FEL) in the spectral domain. Spectra were captured for hard X-rays using a pair of transmissive bent-crystal spectrometers on a single-shot basis. The probability distributions of the spectral intensity as a function of an increasing bandwidth were studied in different SASE regimes. The number of spectral modes was found to grow linearly in the exponential growth regime, but the growth became super-linear at saturation and in deeper saturation, consistent with the current theoretical understanding and simulations. The spectral intensity fluctuations were found to decrease when a wider portion of the beam (transverse to the direction of the dispersion) was integrated, indicating a partial spatial coherence, the degree of which was then estimated.

The radiation from SASE FEL has always limited value of the degree of transverse coherence. When transverse size of the electron beam significantly exceeds diffraction limit, the mode competition effect does not provide the selection of the ground mode, and spatial coherence degrades due to contribution of the higher order transverse modes. It is important that the most strong higher modes are azimythally non-symmetric which leads to fluctuations of the spot size and of the pointing stability of the photon beam. These fluctuations are fundamental and originate from the shot noise in the electron beam. The effect of the pointing instability becomes more pronouncing for shorter wavelengths. We analyze in detail the case of optimized SASE FEL and derive universal dependencies applicable to all operating and planned x-ray FELs. It is shown that x-ray FELs driven by low energy electron beams will exhibit poor spatial coherence and bad pointing stability.

At present the SASE3 undulator beamline of the European XFEL includes 21 planar undulators which generate horizontally polarized radiation in the soft X-ray region between 0.4 and 5.0nm. In order to satisfy the demand to full polarization control it is planned to install four helical undulator segments at the end of the planar SASE3 undulator system. The helical undulator segments will be used as an afterburner, i.e. they will use the micro-bunched electron beam and produce enhanced coherent radiation at a power level comparable to the linear system but with full polarization control. In this contribution the properties of the emitted radiation will be investigated.

We present developments on a hard X-ray wavefront sensing instrument for characterizing and monitoring the beam of the European X-ray Free Electron Lasers (EuXFEL). The pulsed nature of the intense X-ray beam delivered by this new class of facility gives rise to strong challenges for the optics and their diagnostic. In the frame of the EUCALL project Work Package 7, we are developing a sensor able to observe the beam in the X-ray energy range [8-40] keV without altering it. The sensor is based on the speckle tracking principle and employs two semi-transparent optics optimized such that their X-ray absorption is reduced. Furthermore, this instrument requires a scattering object with small random features placed in the beam and two cameras to record images of the beam at two different propagation distances. The analysis of the speckle pattern and its distortion from one image to the other allows absolute or differential wavefront recovery from pulse to pulse. Herein, we introduce the stakes and challenges of wavefront sensing at an XFEL source and explain the strategies adopted to fulfil the high requirements set by such a source.

For the LCLS-II instruments we are developing laser power meters as compact intensity monitors that can operate at soft and tender X-ray photon energies. There is a need to monitor the relative X-ray intensity at various locations along an X-ray FEL beamline in order to observe a possible decrease in the reflectivity of X-ray mirrors. In addition for experiments, it is valuable to know the absolute intensity at the sample. There are two types of laser power meters based on thermopile and pyroelectric sensors. The thermopile power meters measure an average temperature and are compatible with the high repetition rates of LCLS-II. Pyroelectric power meters provide a pulse-by-pulse response. Ultra-high vacuum compatibility is being tested by residual gas analysis. An in-house development beamtime is being conducted at the LCLS SXR instrument. Measurements using both thermopile and pyroelectric power meters will be conducted at a set of photon energies in the soft X-ray range. The detectors’ response will be compared with the gas monitor detector installed at the SXR instrument.

We report experimental demonstration of capturing single-shot X-ray Free-electron Laser (FEL) beam profiles using gas fluorescence. The measurement was carried out at the Linac Coherent Light Source using 7 keV hard X-rays propagating through ambient air. The nitrogen fluorescence emitted upon the passage of the X-ray FEL beam were imaged using a highly sensitive optical setup, and there was sufficient optical yield that single-shot measurements were feasible. By taking two orthogonal and simultaneous images, the beam trajectory could be determined in a nearly non-invasive manner, and is best suited for photon energies in the soft X-ray regime, where such a diagnostic capability has been largely unavailable previously. The integrated intensity of the images could also serve as a non-invasive intensity monitor, complementary to current implementations of gas- and solidbased monitors. High repetition-rate Free-electron Lasers can greatly benefit from such a new diagnostic tool for eliminating potential thermal damages.

The generation of two X-ray pulses with tunable nanosecond scale time separations has recently been demonstrated at the Linac Coherent Light Source using an accelerator based technique. This approach offers the opportunity to extend X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy techniques to the yet unexplored regime of nanosecond timescales by means of X-ray Speckle Visibility Spectroscopy. As the two pulses originate from two independent Spontaneous Amplified Stimulated Emission processes, the beam properties fluctuate from pulse pair to pulse pair, but as well between the individual pulses within a pair. However, two-pulse XSVS experiments require the intensity of the individual pulses to be either identical in the ideal case, or with a accurately known intensity ratio. We present the design and performances of a non-destructive intensity diagnostic based on measurement of scattering from a transparent target using a high-speed photo-detector. Individual pulses within a pulse pair with time delays as short as 0.7 ns can be resolved. Moreover, using small angle coherent scattering, we characterize the averaged spatial overlap of the focused pulse pairs. The multi-shot average-speckle contrasts from individual pulses and pulse pairs are compared.

All the major synchrotron radiation facilities around the world have recently started upgrade projects to go towards the 4th generation of x-ray sources, in the direction of fully "Diffraction Limited Storage Rings" (DLSRs) in order to produce photon beams with better quality. Several Free Electron Lasers (FELs), also providing diffraction limited beam, are operating and increasing their performances, while other ones are almost ready to be operational. To fully exploit the ultimate source properties of these next-generation light sources, the quality requirements for x-ray optics have significantly increased, especially for reflective optics like mirrors. To maintain the coherence of the beam, such optical components will need to have shape accuracies in the nanometer regime over macroscopic length scales up to 1 meter. If we consider the ratio between these two parameters, we can quantify how challenging is not only the manufacturing process but also the characterization and measurement of such optics. We will outline such challenge taking some experience from the example case of European XFEL.

The ability to split femtosecond free electron laser pulses and recombine them with a precisely adjustable delay has numerous scientific applications such as X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy and X-ray pump X-ray probe measurements. A wavefront-splitting based hard X-ray split-delay system is currently under development at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The design configuration uses a series of Si(220) crystal reflections in the horizontal scattering geometry. It covers an energy range between 6.5 and 13 keV, a delay range from -30 ps up to 500 ps at 8 keV. The design features two planar air bearing based linear stage delay lines for improved stability and accuracy during the delay adjustments in order to maintain spatial overlap of the two branches during a delay scan. We present the basic design concept, tolerance analysis, and estimated performance of the system.

Simulations of experiments at modern light sources, such as optical laser laboratories, synchrotrons, and free electron lasers, become increasingly important for the successful preparation, execution, and analysis of these experiments investigating ever more complex physical systems, e.g. biomolecules, complex materials, and ultra–short lived states of matter at extreme conditions. We have implemented a platform for complete start–to–end simulations of various types of photon science experiments, tracking the radiation from the source through the beam transport optics to the sample or target under investigation, its interaction with and scattering from the sample, and registration in a photon detector. This tool allows researchers and facility operators to simulate their experiments and instruments under real life conditions, identify promising and unattainable regions of the parameter space and ultimately make better use of valuable beamtime. In this paper, we present an overview about status and future development of the simulation platform and discuss three applications: 1.) Single–particle imaging of biomolecules using x–ray free electron lasers and optimization of x–ray pulse properties, 2.) x–ray scattering diagnostics of hot dense plasmas in high power laser–matter interaction and identification of plasma instabilities, and 3.) x–ray absorption spectroscopy in warm dense matter created by high energy laser–matter interaction and pulse shape optimization for low–isentrope dynamic compression.

We present the optical layout of soft X-rays compressors using reflective grating specifically designed to give both positive or negative group-delay dispersion (GDD). They are tailored for chirped-pulse-amplification experiments with FEL sources. The optical design originates from an existing compressor with plane gratings already realized and tested at FERMI, that has been demonstrated capable to introduce tunable negative GDD. Here, we discuss two novel designs for compressors using deformable gratings capable to give both negative and positive GDD. Two novel designs are discussed: 1) a design with two deformable gratings and an intermediate focus between the twos, that is demonstrated capable to introduce positive GDD; 2) a design with one deformable grating giving an intermediate focus, followed by a concave mirror and a plane grating, that is capable to give both positive and negative GDD depending on the distance between the second mirror and the second grating. Both the designs are tunable in wavelength and GDD, by acting on the deformable gratings, that are rotated to tune the wavelength and the GDD and deformed to introduce the radius required to keep the spectral focus. The deformable gratings have a laminar profile and are ruled on a thin silicon plane substrate. A piezoelectric actuator is glued on the back of the substrate and is actuated to give a radius of curvature that is varying from infinite (plane) to few meters. The ruling procedure, the piezoelectric actuator and the efficiency measurements in the soft X-rays will be presented. Some test cases are discussed for wavelengths shorter than 12 nm.

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) poses a number of daunting and often unusual challenges to maintaining X-ray detectors, such as proximity to liquid-sample injectors, complex setups with moving components, intense X-ray and optical laser light, and Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). The Detector and Sample Environment departments at LCLS are developing an array of engineering, monitoring, and administrative controls solutions to better address these issues. These include injector improvements and monitoring methods, fast online damage recognition algorithms, EMP mapping and protection, actively cooled filters, and more.

Experimental researches using high power optical lasers combined with free electron lasers (FELs) open new frontiers in high energy density (HED) sciences. Probing and pumping capabilities are dramatically improved due to the brightness of the XFEL pulses with ultrafast duration. Besides, the peak intensities of Ti:sapphire laser Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) systems reach petawatt (PW)-class with operating in few tens of fs and commercially available at a few Hz of repetition rate. We have been developing an experimental platform for HED sciences using high power, high intensity optical lasers at the XFEL facility, SACLA.Currently, an experimental platform with a dual 0.5 PW Ti:Sapphire laser system is under beam commissioning for experiments combined with the SACLA’s x-ray beam for research objectives that require more peak power in the optical laser pulses with a few tens of fs. The optical laser system is designed to deliver two laser beams simultaneously with the maximum power of 0.5 PW in each into a target chamber located in an experimental hutch 6 (EH6) at BL2, which was recently commissioned as a SACLA’s 2nd hard x-ray beamline. A focusing capability using sets of compound refractive lenses will be applied to increase the x-ray fluence on the target sample. One of the most key issues for the integrated experimental platform is development of diagnostics that meets requirements both from the high power laser (e.g. resistance to harsh environments) and from the XFEL (e.g. adaptation to the available data acquisition system). The status and future perspective of the development including automatic laser alignment systems will be reported in the presentation. We will discuss the most promising and important new physics experiments that will be enabled by the combination of PW-class lasers and the world-class FEL’s x-ray beam.

The combination of powerful optical lasers and an x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) provides unique capabilities to study the transient behavior of matter in extreme conditions. The high energy density science instrument (HED instrument) at the European XFEL will provide the experimental platform on which an unique x-ray source can be combined with various types of high-power optical lasers. In this paper, we highlight selected scientific examples together with the associated x-ray techniques, with particular emphasis on femtosecond (fs)-timescale pump–probe experiments. Subsequently, we present the current design status of the HED instrument, outlining how the experiments could be performed. First user experiments will start at the beginning of 2018, after which various optical lasers will be commissioned and made available to the international scientific community.

At present the SASE3 undulator line at the European XFEL is using a planar undulator producing linear polarized soft Xray radiation only. In order to satisfy the demand for circular polarized radiation a helical undulator system, the so-called afterburner is in construction. It will be operated as a radiator using the pre-bunched beam of the SASE3 undulator system. Among several options for the magnetic structure the Apple-X geometry was chosen. This is a pure permanent magnet undulator using NdFeB material. Four magnet arrays are arranged symmetrically the beam axis. Polarization can be changed by adjusting the phase shift (PS) between the two orthogonal structures. The field strength can be adjusted either by gap adjustment or alternatively by the amplitude shift (AS) scheme. For an engineering design the maximum values of forces and torques on each of the components under worst case operational conditions are important. The superposition principle is used to reduce calculation time. It is found that the maximum forces Fx, Fy and Fz for a 2m long Apple-X undulator are 1.8*10⁴N, 2.4*10⁴N and 2.3*10⁴N, respectively. More results are presented in this paper.

We report on the results of the first operation of a frequency doubler at FLASH2. The scheme uses the feature of the variable gap of the undulator. Undulator is divided in two parts. The second part of the undulator is tuned to the double frequency of the first part. Modulated electron beam enters the second part of the undulator and generates radiation at the 2nd harmonic. Depending on a balance between the gain of undulator sections, frequency doubler allows operation in a two-color mode and operation at shorter wavelengths with respect to standard SASE scheme. The shortest wavelength of 3.1 nm (photon energy 400 eV) has been achieved at FLASH2 with frequency doubler scheme, which is significantly below the design value for the standard SASE option.

Radiation from the SASE FEL operating in the linear regime holds properties of completely chaotic polarized light. Measurements of the SASE FEL gain curve allows to determine saturation length which is strictly connected with coherence time. Statistical analysis of the fluctuations of the radiation energies measured with different spatial apertures allows one to determine the number of the longitudinal and transverse modes. Thus, with these simple measurements it becomes possible to determine the degree of transverse coherence, coherence time, and photon pulse duration. In this report we present theoretical background and experimental results obtained at free electron laser FLASH.

For the soft x-ray free-electron laser FLASH II at DESY in Hamburg a new split-and-delay unit (SDU) is built for photon energies in the range of 30 eV < hν < 1500 eV with an option to expand this range to hν = 2500 eV. The SDU is based on wavefront beam splitting at grazing incidence angles. A three dimensional set-up allows for the use of two different beam paths. With grazing angles of θ = 1.3° in the fixed beam paths and θ = 1.8° in the variable beam path a good compromise between a sufficient reflectance (shallow angles) and a large possible maximum delay (steeper angles) has been chosen. The maximum possible delay is -6 ps < Δt < 18 ps. For photon energies in the range of 30 eV < hν < 800 eV the mirrors are coated with Ni providing a total transmission between T = 57 % at hν = 30 eV and still T >; 30 % at hν = 800 eV. For photon energies up to hν = 1800 eV a different beam path with platinum coated mirrors is used enabling a total transmission in the fixed beam path of T > 29 % at hν = 800 eV and T = 24 % at hν = 1800 eV, respectively. In the variable beam path the total transmission in this photon energy range is considerably lower but still sufficient with T = 13 % at hν = 800 eV and T > 6 % at hν = 1800 eV.

For the High Energy Density Instrument (HED) at the European XFEL a hard x-ray split-and-delay unit (SDU) is built covering photon energies in the range between 5 keV and 24 keV. This SDU enables time-resolved x-ray pump / x-ray probe experiments as well as sequential diffractive imaging on a femtosecond to picosecond time scale. The set-up is based on wavefront splitting that has successfully been implemented at an autocorrelator at FLASH. The x-ray FEL pulses will be split by a sharp edge of a silicon mirror coated with Mo/B4C and W/B4C multilayers. Both partial beams then pass variable delay lines. For different photon energies the angle of incidence onto the multilayer mirrors is adjusted in order to match the Bragg condition. Hence, maximum delays between +/- 1 ps at 24 keV and up to +/- 23 ps at 5 keV will be possible. Time-dependent wave-optics simulations are performed with Synchrotron Radiation Workshop (SRW) software. The XFEL radiation is simulated using the output of the time-dependent SASE code FAST. For the simulations diffraction on the edge of the beam-splitter as well as height and slope errors of all eight mirror surfaces are taken into account. The impact of these effects on the ability to focus the beam by means of compound refractive lenses (CRL) is analyzed.

Time-dependent simulations were carried out to study the duty-cycle dependence of the density depression effect in gas attenuators and gas intensity monitors servicing a high repetition rate pulsed Free-electron laser beam. The evolution of the temperature/density gradients in-between the pulses in the entire gas volume, especially during the on-cycle, were obtained to evaluate the performance of any given pulse. It was found that the actual achieved attenuation in the attenuator or the intensity measured by the gas monitor deviates from the asymptotic value expected for a uniformly spaced pulse train after reaching a steady state, becoming progressively more significant as the duty-cycle tends lower.

We discuss the design of grating-based monochromators for coherent ultrafast pulses in the extreme-ultraviolet. The main application of such instruments is the monochromatization of ultrafast high-order laser harmonics and freeelectron-laser pulses. We present the conditions to be fulfilled by a grating monochromator that doesn’t increase the pulse duration significantly longer than the Fourier limit. A full correction of the pulse-front tilt requires the use of two gratings in a time-delay compensating configuration. The grating-monochromator configuration is applied to the design of the monochromatic beamline for FLASH2 at DESY. The monochromator has to be tunable in the 50-1000 eV energy range with a resolving power higher than 1000 and an instrumental response shorter than 100 fs in the whole energy range. Given the actual parameters of the FLASH2 radiation and the restrictions in the positioning of the optical elements, the tilt of the pulse-front given by a single grating would give an unacceptable temporal stretching of the pulse. This has to be corrected by a second grating in the compensated configuration. The residual distortion of the pulse-front after the second grating is well below 10 fs.