FOM Rijnhuizen, Nieuwegein
Several of the short-pulse FELs that are operated in a wavelength range starting well below and ending well above 100 microns make use of a partial waveguide in the resonator and a central hole in one of the mirrors for outcoupling. The purpose of the waveguide is to confine the optical mode, in particular within the gap of the undulator. Experimentally, it was found that these FELs suffer from one or a number of tuning 'gaps': narrow wavelength windows within the tuning range where the output is strongly reduced or where the laser even does not turn on. Recently, Prazeres et al.[1] , using a simulation model, were able to reproduce some of the main features of the tuning curve and showed that the cavity outcoupling and losses change abruptly across a tuning gap. In this contribution we will present experimental results for the gain, cavity loss, saturated power and spectral intensity across one of the most prominent gaps in the tuning curve of the FELIX long-wavelength FEL. Both for the normal case and for the case where a slit is used to limit the optical mode extent on the free-space mirror.
[1]. R. Prazeres, F. Glotin, and J.-M. Ortega, PRST-AB, 12 (2009) 010701
