Free Electron Lasers | previous | next | feedback |
(Acronym: FEL)
Definition: laser devices where light amplification occurs by interaction with fast electrons in an undulator
Figure 1: Setup of an undulator, as used in a free electron laser. The periodically varying magnetic field forces the electron beam (blue) on a slightly oscillatory path, which leads to emission of radiation.
A free electron laser is a relatively exotic type of laser where the optical amplification is achieved in an undulator, fed with high energy (relativistic) electrons from an electron accelerator. Such devices have been demonstrated with emission wavelengths reaching from the terahertz region via the far- and near-infrared, the visible and ultraviolet range to the X-ray region, even though no single device can span this whole wavelength range.
In the undulator, a periodic arrangement of magnets (permanent magnets or electromagnets) generates a periodically varying Lorentz force, which forces the electrons to radiate with a frequency which depends on the electron energy, the undulator period, and (weakly) on the magnetic field strength. Both spontaneous and stimulated emission occurs, allowing for optical amplification in a certain wavelength range.
The greatest attractions of free electron lasers are
- their ability to be operated in very wide wavelength regions,
- the large wavelength tuning range possible with a single device,
- the spectacular performance in extreme wavelength regions, not reachable with any other light source.
Compared with other synchrotron radiation sources (pure undulators and wigglers), FELs can generate an output with a much higher spectral brightness and coherence. This is very useful for a number of applications, including fields such as atomic and molecular physics, ultrafast X-ray science, advanced material studies, ultrafast chemical dynamics, biology and medicine.
The big drawback of FELs is that their setups are very large and expensive, so that they can be used only at relatively few large facilities in the world. The most ambitious free electron laser project is currently pursued in Hamburg (XFEL, within the TESLA project) with the goal of obtaining hard X-ray output with unprecedented performance features: wavelengths down to 0.085 nm and pulse durations below 100 fs. So far, wavelengths down to 6.5 nm have been achieved in the smaller FLASH facility.
Bibliography
| [1] | D. A. G. Deacon et al., "First operation of a free-electron laser", Phys. Rev. Lett. 38 (16), 892 (1977) |
| [2] | C. A. Brau, "Free-electron lasers", Science 239 (4844), 1115 (1988) |
| [3] | K.-J. Kim and A. Sessler, "Free-electron lasers: present status and future prospects", Science 250, 88 (1990) |
| [4] | G. R. Neil and L. Merminga, "Technical approaches for high-average-power free-electron lasers", Rev. Mod. Phys. 74, 685 (2002) |
| [5] | The World Wide Web Library on Free Electron Lasers, http://sbfel3.ucsb.edu/www/vl_fel.html |
| [6] | The European X-ray laser project XFEL, http://xfel.desy.de/ |
| [7] | W. Ackermann et al., "Operation of a free-electron laser from the extreme ultraviolet to the water window", Nat. Photonics 1, 336 (2007) |
See also: ultraviolet light, ultraviolet lasers, X-ray lasers
