Free-Electron Laser Initiative

About FEL

Unique scientific opportunities can be expected by combining the existing suite of magnets at the Magnet Lab with a flexible photon source that addresses frequencies from the near infrared to the terahertz regime. Flexibility in intensity, pulse duration and use of multiple photon beams in a pump-probe geometry all combine with the continuous tuning of the magnetic field as a thermodynamic parameter to address a broad range of questions in materials of interest in condensed matter physics, chemistry and biophysics, including probing dynamical processes in these materials under extreme conditions.

The Mag Lab has been funded by the National Science Foundation with an Instrumentation for Materials Research - Major Instrumentation Projects (IMR-MIP) grant for the concept and engineering design (CED) of a free-electron laser system (FEL) for high magnetic field research. The proposed frequency range spans the spectral region corresponding to energies of 5 cm-1 to 5000 cm-1 (2000 µm - 2 µm), which covers the majority of electronic excitation and interaction energies that are encountered in high magnetic field research at the lab. Presently a FEL is the only source that can provide the desired combination of tuneability and power over this very wide frequency range. Simultaneously with the narrow-band FEL radiation, the short relativistic electron bunches will provide broadband coherent synchrotron radiation at frequencies up to 3 THz. When realized, this facility will be unique in its combination of high magnetic fields and intense electromagnetic radiation.

In January 2007, two workshops relating to the FELS project took place at opposite ends of the country. Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia, hosted the Design and Applications of FELs for Research with High Magnetic Fields Workshop; read the Executive Summary for details. At the National Academy of Sciences Condensed Matter and Materials Physics - 2010 Workshop at UC Irvine, Magnet Lab Director Greg Boebinger gave a presentation with information about the FEL project.

Partners

The Magnet Lab is fortunate to have two excellent partners in this project with extensive knowledge and experience in FEL design and operation. Our first partner is the FEL Program at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. They have built and are operating the world’s most powerful FEL laser in the mid- to near-infrared. This FEL uses a (>80 MeV) superconducting RF LINAC as the electron accelerator. Our second partner is the Center for Terahertz Science and Technology at UC Santa Barbara, which very successfully operates a unique semi-continuous Far-Infrared FEL. This laser employs a 6 MeV electrostatic accelerator. Both the JLab and UCSB FELs are user facilities.