In high-gain free-electron lasers (FELs) with planar undulators it is possible (in the linear regime) to independently amplify at the fundamental and at odd harmonics, a process referred to as Harmonic Lasing (HL). For the HL process preservation of the quality of the incoming high-brightness electron beam is essential. This requires suppression of the lasing at the fundamental, which can be achieved using several methods such as special phase shifter set points and attenuation of the fundamental radiation using intra-undulator optical high-pass filters. The European XFEL variable-gap undulator beamline SASE2 features two intra-undulator stations combining a magnetic chicane and the possibility to insert a thin diamond crystal onto the optical axis of the beamline. While installed for the operation in hard x-ray self seeding (HXRSS) mode, this hardware is well-suited for HL experiments at a low electron beam energy corresponding to a fundamental photon energy of about 2keV. In this contribution we present numerical simulations of third-harmonic lasing at this working point.

The SASE3 Variable Polarization project is intended to offer polarization control of the X-ray FEL pulses at the European XFEL. The project was completed in early 2022. During the winter shutdown 2021-2022, all four APPLE-X helical undulators were placed in the tunnel and first lasing was achieved in April 2022. Unfortunately, further use of the helical afterburner proved impossible, as the encoders used to position the magnetic structures of the undulator were damaged by radiation. To carry out repairs, all undulators were removed from the tunnel in the summer 2022, and investigations were carried out to determine the cause of the radiation damage. This article presents measures taken to minimize further radiation damage in order to ensure the continued operation of the helical afterburner.

The FLARE project aims to investigate special operation modes of the laser heater at the free-electron laser FLASH in Hamburg that enable the generation of few- or possibly sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulses. To this end, laser pulses of the laser heater are split and then recombined after one pulse has been delayed. By controlling the interference of both pulses via their temporal overlap, a longitudinally non-uniform heating of the electron bunches can be achieved. Utilizing this, two short-pulse generation schemes are to be implemented as part of the FLARE project. In the first scheme, the energy spread of the bunch is increased to a degree that inhibits lasing, leaving only a small unheated region which emits a short FEL pulse. The second scheme works by imprinting an energy modulation with a linearly increasing amplitude onto the longitudinal phase-space distribution of the bunch. In subsequent magnetic chicanes, this phase-space structure results in a localized compression of the bunch, creating an extremely short current spike, which might be used to produce an X-ray pulse on the same time scale. The FLARE setup as well as first experimental results are presented.

A single-pass THz free-electron laser (FEL) at the Photo Injector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ) was designed and implemented for a proof-of-principle experiment on a tunable high-power THz source for pump-probe experiments at the European XFEL. THz pulses are generated at a radiation wavelength of 100 μm within a 3.5 m long, strongly focusing planar LCLS-I undulator. High gain is achieved by driving the FEL with high brightness beams from the PITZ photoinjector at 17 MeV and a bunch charge of up to several nC. In addition to the mechanisms of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), seeding of the THz-FEL by electron bunch modulation at the photocathode is also being investigated. The experimental results, including the gain curves and spectral properties of the THz-FEL radiation, are presented in comparison with theoretical predictions and numerical simulations.