Seeded free-electron laser driven by a compact laser plasma accelerator

Marie Labat (1) , Jurjen Couperus Cabadağ (2) , Amin Ghaith (1, 2) , Arie Irman (2) , Anthony Berlioux (1) , Philippe Berteaud (1) , Frédéric Blache (1) , Stefan Bock (2) , François Bouvet (1) , Fabien Briquez (1) , Yen-Yu Chang (2) , Sébastien Corde (3) , Alexander Debus (2) , Carlos de Oliveira (1) , Jean-Pierre Duval (1) , Yannick Dietrich (1) , Moussa El Ajjouri (1) , Christoph Eisenmann (2) , Julien Gautier (3) , René Gebhardt (2) , Simon Grams (2) , Uwe Helbig (2) , Christian Herbeaux (1) , Nicolas Hubert (1) , Charles Kitegi (1) , Olena Kononenko (3) , Michael Kuntzsch (2) , Maxwell Laberge (2, 4) , Stéphane Lê (1) , Bruno Leluan (1) , Alexandre Loulergue (1) , Victor Malka (3) , Fabrice Marteau (1) , Manh Huy N. Guyen (1) , Driss Oumbarek-Espinos (1) , Richard Pausch (2) , Damien Pereira (1) , Thomas Püschel (2) , Jean-Paul Ricaud (1) , Patrick Rommeluere (1) , Eléonore Roussel (5) , Pascal Rousseau (3) , Susanne Schöbel (2) , Mourad Sebdaoui (1) , Klaus Steiniger (2) , Keihan Tavakoli (1) , Cédric Thaury (3) , Patrick Ufer (2) , Mathieu Valléau (1) , Marc Vandenberghe (1) , José Vétéran (1) , Ulrich Schramm (2) , Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie (1)

1 SSOLEIL - Synchrotron SOLEIL
2 HZDR - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
3 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
4 University of Texas at Austin [Austin]
5 PhLAM - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules - UMR 8523

Abstract Free-electron lasers generate high-brilliance coherent radiation at wavelengths spanning from the infrared to the X-ray domains. The recent development of short-wavelength seeded free-electron lasers now allows for unprecedented levels of control on longitudinal coherence, opening new scientific avenues such as ultra-fast dynamics on complex systems and X-ray nonlinear optics. Although those devices rely on state-of-the-art large-scale accelerators, advancements on laser-plasma accelerators, which harness gigavolt-per-centimetre accelerating fields, showcase a promising technology as compact drivers for free-electron lasers. Using such footprint-reduced accelerators, exponential amplification of a shot-noise type of radiation in a self-amplified spontaneous emission configuration was recently achieved. However, employing this compact approach for the delivery of temporally coherent pulses in a controlled manner has remained a major challenge. Here we present the experimental demonstration of a laser-plasma accelerator-driven free-electron laser in a seeded configuration, where control over the radiation wavelength is accomplished. Furthermore, the appearance of interference fringes, resulting from the interaction between the phase-locked emitted radiation and the seed, confirms longitudinal coherence. Building on our scientific achievements, we anticipate a navigable pathway to extreme-ultraviolet wavelengths, paving the way towards smaller-scale free-electron lasers, unique tools for a multitude of applications in industry, laboratories and universities.

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Physique des accélérateurs [physics.acc-ph]; Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]; Optique / photonique

Marie Labat, Jurjen Couperus Cabadağ, Amin Ghaith, Arie Irman, Anthony Berlioux, et al.. Seeded free-electron laser driven by a compact laser plasma accelerator. Nature Photonics, 2022, 17, pp.150-156. ⟨10.1038/s41566-022-01104-w⟩. ⟨hal-03898039⟩