The effects of pump pulse fluence on the output energy and amplified spontaneous emission of a femtosecond regenerative amplifier

In this paper, the effects of pump pulse fluence on the output energy and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of a femtosecond regenerative amplifier are investigated. One can easily enhance the output energy of laser amplifiers by increasing their pump fluence. This in turn can increase the ASE and reduce the performance of amplifiers in terms of output beam quality, beam stability, etc. This effect would eventually lead to what is called ‘temporal intensity contrast deterioration’. In this work, it is shown that an optimum state of the pump pulse fluence can indeed optimize the amount of the output energy from a regenerative amplifier without much reducing the performance of the amplifier due to the higher ASE. Temporal gain characteristics were employed to achieve this optimum value for a better design, performance, and maintenance of femtosecond laser amplifiers. The results of the current study can be effectively used in designing a wide range of regenerative amplifiers for femtosecond pulses.

Impact of Different Components and Boundary Conditions on the Eigenfrequencies of a Magnet–Girder Assembly

Synchrotron radiation facilities are very important in different areas of fundamental and applied science to investigate structures or processes at small scales. Magnet–girder assemblies play a key role for the performance of such accelerator machines. High structural eigenfrequencies of the magnet–girder assemblies are required to assure a sufficient particle beam stability. The objective of the present parametric study was to numerically investigate and quantify the impact of different boundary conditions and components on the magnet–girder eigenfrequencies. As case studies, two 3 m long girder designs following the specifications of the PETRA IV project at DESY (German Electron Synchrotron, Hamburg, Germany) were selected. High magnet–girder assembly eigenfrequencies were achieved by, e.g., positioning the magnets close to the upper girder surface, increasing the connection stiffness between the magnets and the girder and between the girder and the bases, and positioning the girder support points as high as possible in the shape of a large triangle. Comparing the E/ρ ratio (E: Young’s modulus, ρ: material density) of different materials was used as a first approach to evaluate different materials for application to the girder. Based on the findings, general principles are recommended to be considered in the future girder design development processes.

Modelling the effects of optical vibrations on photon beam parameters using ray-tracing software

A method to simulate beam properties observed at the beamline sample-point in the presence of motion of optical components has been developed at Diamond Light Source. A series of stationary ray-tracing simulations are used to model the impact on the beam stability caused by dynamic motion of optical elements. Ray-tracing simulations using SHADOW3 in OASYS, completed over multiple iterations and stitched together, permit the modelling of a pseudo-dynamic beamline. As beamline detectors operating at higher frequencies become more common, beam stability is crucial. Synchrotron ring upgrades to low-emittance lattices require increased stability of beamlines in order to conserve beam brightness. By simulating the change in beam size and position, an estimate of the impact the motion of various components have on stability is possible. The results presented in this paper focus on modelling the physical vibration of optical elements. Multiple beam parameters can be analysed in succession without manual input. The simulation code is described and the initial results obtained are presented. This method can be applied during beamline design and operation for the identification of optical elements that may introduce large errors in the beam properties at the sample-point.

Backward-ion acceleration in critical density plasmas

Laser-accelerated ions are widely attractive for many fields as a compact and low-cost accelerator. For the application to medical treatment, it is necessary to not only enhance the maximum acceleration energy but also improve beam stability and quality. In this study, we demonstrate a new ion acceleration mechanism using a uniform critical density plasma that yields very high ion energy despite the existence of a laser prepulse. The maximum proton energy in the experiment was approximately 18 MeV accelerated by the laser pulse of 3 x 1019 W/cm2 focused intensity under the conditions of the maximum prepulse contrast ratio of 10-3. Further, heavier particles such as carbon or oxygen present in the plasma were accelerated using the same acceleration field. In addition, a self-created magnetic field in the plasma significantly improved emission divergence.

A Mission Concept to Determine the Magnetospheric Causes of Aurora

Insufficiently accurate magnetic-field-line mapping between the aurora and the equatorial magnetosphere prevents us from determining the cause of many types of aurora. An important example is the longstanding question of how the magnetosphere drives low-latitude (growth-phase) auroral arcs: a large number of diverse generator mechanisms have been hypothesized but equatorial magnetospheric measurements cannot be unambiguously connected to arcs in the ionosphere, preventing the community from identifying the correct generator mechanisms. Here a mission concept is described to solve the magnetic-connection problem. From an equatorial instrumented spacecraft, a powerful energetic-electron beam is fired into the atmospheric loss cone resulting in an optical beam spot in the upper atmosphere that can be optically imaged from the ground, putting the magnetic connection of the equatorial spacecraft’s measurements into the context of the aurora. Multiple technical challenges that must be overcome for this mission concept are discussed: these include spacecraft charging, beam dynamics, beam stability, detection of the beam spot in the presence of aurora, and the safety of nearby spacecraft.