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Deutsche Physikalische Gessellschaft IOP Institute of Physics

An optimized kHz two-colour high harmonic source for seeding free-electron lasers and plasma-based soft x-ray lasers

G Lambert1,4, J Gautier1, C P Hauri2, Ph Zeitoun1, C Valentin1, T Marchenko1, F Tissandier1, J Ph Goddet1, M Ribiere1, G Rey1, M Fajardo3 and S Sebban1

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Free-electron lasers (FEL) and plasma-based soft x-ray lasers (PSXL) have been recently evolving very fast from the vacuum ultraviolet to the soft x-ray region. Once seeded with high harmonics, these schemes are considered as the next generation soft x-ray light sources delivering ultrashort pulses with high temporal and spatial coherence. Here, we present a detailed experimental study of a kHz two-colour high harmonic generation performed in various gases and investigate its potential as a suitable evolution of the actual seeding sources. It turns out that this double harmonic content source is highly tuneable, controllable and delivers intense radiation (measured here with a calibrated photodiode) with only one order of magnitude difference in the photon yield from 65 to 13 nm. Then, first and foremost, injections could be achieved at wavelengths shorter than what was previously accessible in FEL and PSXL and/or additional energy could be extracted. Also, such a strong and handy seed could allow the saturation range of FEL devices to be greatly extended to shorter wavelengths and would bring higher spectral as well as intensity stabilities in this spectral zone.


PACS

52.50.Dg Plasma sources

52.38.Ph X-ray, gamma-ray and particle generation

41.60.Cr Free-electron lasers

42.60.Jf Beam characteristics: profile, intensity, and power; spatial pattern formation

Subjects

Accelerators, beams and electromagnetism

Optics, quantum optics and lasers

Plasma physics

Dates

Issue 8 (August 2009)

Received 31 March 2009

Published 28 August 2009



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