Free-Electron Laser Description: History

FEL

Schematic of the original JLab FEL with its photoinjected, superconducting rf linac with energy recovery.

History

The first FEL, the IR-Demo whose commissioning was completed in August '99, ran as a user facility in Oct. '99, Feb. '00, July '00, Oct. '00, Feb. '01, June '01, Aug. '01, and Oct. '01 providing about 3000 hours of user beam to ~30 groups.

Specifications of the original JLab FEL

Average Power 1720 watts
Wavelength range 3-6.2 microns
Micropulse energy up to 70 microJoules
Pulse length 0.5-1.7 ps
PRF 74.85, 37.425, 18.7 MHz
Bandwidth 0.3-2%
Amplitude jitter < 10% p-p
Polarization >6000:1
Transverse mode < 2x diffraction limit
Beam diameter at lab 1.5-3.5 cm

 

Here are some other pictures of the facility.