FEL2011 - List of Authors (Görler, M.)

Paper	Title	Page
THPA18	Operation of the FLASH Photoinjector Laser System	507
	S. Schreiber, M. Görler, K. Klose, T. Schulz, M. Staack DESY, Hamburg, Germany G. Klemz, G. Koss DESY Zeuthen, Zeuthen, Germany I.H. Templin, I. Will, H. Willert MBI, Berlin, Germany
	The photoinjector of FLASH uses an RF gun equipped with caesium telluride photocathodes illuminated by appropriate UV laser pulses as a source of ultra-bright electron beams. The superconducting accelerator of FLASH is able to accelerate thousands of electron bunches per second in burst mode. This puts special demands on the design of the electron source, especially the laser system. The fully diode pumped laser system is based on Nd:YLF and produces a train of 2400 UV pulses in a burst of 0.8 ms length with a repetition rate of 5 Hz and 800 pulses with 10 Hz. The single pulse energy is up to 25 μJ per pulse at 262 nm. The laser uses a pulsed oscillator synchronized to the master RF with a stability of better than 200 fs in arrival time at the RF gun. Special care has been taken to produce a uniform and stable pulse train in terms of pulse energy, shape, and phase. Since FLASH is a free-electron laser user facility, the laser is designed to operate for more than 8000 h per year without operator intervention and little maintenance. We report on operational experience with the new system brought in operation in spring 2010.

Paper

Title

Page

Operation of the FLASH Photoinjector Laser System

507

S. Schreiber, M. Görler, K. Klose, T. Schulz, M. Staack
DESY, Hamburg, Germany
G. Klemz, G. Koss
DESY Zeuthen, Zeuthen, Germany
I.H. Templin, I. Will, H. Willert
MBI, Berlin, Germany

The photoinjector of FLASH uses an RF gun equipped with caesium telluride photocathodes illuminated by appropriate UV laser pulses as a source of ultra-bright electron beams. The superconducting accelerator of FLASH is able to accelerate thousands of electron bunches per second in burst mode. This puts special demands on the design of the electron source, especially the laser system. The fully diode pumped laser system is based on Nd:YLF and produces a train of 2400 UV pulses in a burst of 0.8 ms length with a repetition rate of 5 Hz and 800 pulses with 10 Hz. The single pulse energy is up to 25 μJ per pulse at 262 nm. The laser uses a pulsed oscillator synchronized to the master RF with a stability of better than 200 fs in arrival time at the RF gun. Special care has been taken to produce a uniform and stable pulse train in terms of pulse energy, shape, and phase. Since FLASH is a free-electron laser user facility, the laser is designed to operate for more than 8000 h per year without operator intervention and little maintenance. We report on operational experience with the new system brought in operation in spring 2010.