• J. N. Corlett, J. M. Byrd, W. M. Fawley, M. Gullans, D. Li, S. M. Lidia, H. A. Padmore, G. Penn, I. V. Pogorelov, J. Qiang, D. Robin, F. Sannibale, J. W. Staples, C. Steier, M. Venturini, S. P. Virostek, W. Wan, R. P. Wells, R. B. Wilcox, J. S. Wurtele, A. Zholents
  LBNL, Berkeley, California

The FEL process increases radiation flux by several orders of magnitude above existing incoherent sources, and offers the additional enhancements attainable by optical manipulations of the electron beam: control of the temporal duration and bandwidth of the coherent output, and wavelength; utilization of harmonics to attain shorter wavelengths; and precise synchronization of the x-ray pulse with laser systems. We describe an FEL facility concept based on a high repetition rate RF photocathode gun, that would allow simultaneous operation of multiple independent FELs, each producing high average brightness, tunable over the soft x-ray-VUV range, and each with individual performance characteristics determined by the configuration of the FEL SASE, enhanced-SASE (ESASE), seeded, self-seeded, harmonic generation, and other configurations making use of optical manipulations of the electron beam may be employed, providing a wide range of photon beam properties to meet varied user demands. FELs would be tailored to specific experimental needs, including production of ultrafast pulses even into the attosecond domain, and high temporal coherence (i.e. high resolving power) beams.

• G. Penn, A. Sessler, J. S. Wurtele
  LBNL, Berkeley, California

By "conditioning" an electron beam, through establishing a correlation between transverse action and energy within the beam, the performance of free electron lasers (FELs) can be dramatically improved. Under certain conditions, the FEL can perform as if the transverse emittances of the beam were substantially lower than the actual values. After a brief review of the benefits of beam conditioning, we present a method to generate this correlation through the use of a plasma channel. The strong transverse focusing produced by a dense plasma (near standard gas density) allows the optimal correlation to be achieved in a reasonable length channel, of order 1 m. This appears to be a convenient and practical method for achieving conditioned beams, especially in comparison with other methods which require either a long beamline or multiple passes through some type of ring.