• W. Seidel, S. Winnerl
  FZD, Dresden

In order to decrease the average radiation power of the Rossendorf free-electron laser FELBE, as required for certain experiments (high pulse energies but moderate or low average power), the FEL repetition rate can be reduced from 13 MHz to 1 kHz. To this end, plasma switching of FEL radiation pulses was demonstrated for cw operation. The plasma switch is based on the principle of photo-induced reflectivity by an optically excited electron-hole plasma. Germanium or silicon serves as semiconductor material for the switch. The semiconductor was illuminated by a Nd:YAG laser amplifier system (1 kHz, wavelength {10}64 nm, pulse duration16 ps, 1Watt), generating an electron-hole plasma on the front surface of the semiconductor. To integrate this plasma-switch into the existing experimental set-up we build an additional by-pass to the Germanium or Silicon slab which is under Brewster’s angle. To get a high contrast in the switched beam we adjust the polarization plane of the incoming beam to the right direction by using an additional polarization rotator. We will report on first results at different wavelength. Submitted as a poster to the FEL 2010 conference.

• U. Lehnert, M. Helm, P. Michel, H. Schneider, W. Seidel, S. Winnerl
  FZD, Dresden
• A. Aksoy
  Ankara University, Faculty of Engineering, Tandogan, Ankara

To extend the wavelength range of possible experiments from the FIR into the THz region a dedicated beamline is planned at the ELBE Radiation Source. The beamline will deliver coherent transition radiation and coherent synchrotron radiation as broad-band (essentially single-cycle) radiation. Superradiant undulator radiation will be produced for a tunable narrow-band radiation source in the 100GHz to 3THz range. This requires a compression of the ELBE electron beam down to 150fs bunchlength. The beam transport and bunch compression scheme as well as the properties of the produced radiation are presented in detail.