Laser Plasma Accelerators (LPAs), reaching gigavolt-per-centimeter accelerating fields, can generate high peak current, low emittance and GeV class electron beams that can be qualified by a Free Electron Laser (FEL) application. We report here on the commissioning of the COXINEL beamline driven by the HZDR plasma accelerator and experimental demonstration of FEL lasing at 270 nm in a seeded configuration. We also present the transport and characterization of LPA based beams using different imaging systems along the beamline. The use of a streak camera and a UV spectrometer enable to align the seed and the electron beam in the temporal, spectral and transverse domains. Furthermore, the appearance of interference fringes, resulting from the interaction between the phase-locked emitted radiation and the seed, confirms longitudinal coherence, representing an essential feature of seeded FELs. These results are comforted by ELEGANT and GENESIS simulations.
Laser plasma accelerators produce ultra-short, low emittance electron bunches that show potential for use in multistage colliders or for seeding free electron lasers. However, to optimize these novel accelerators for such applications, new diagnostics for micron-scale beams must be developed. In this paper we present single shot coherent optical transition radiation diagnostics that measure spatial and momentum distributions of microbunched high energy electron populations at the exit of a laser plasma accelerator. We show correspondence between the measured position and momentum of the electron beamlets as well as transverse distribution reconstructions of the coherent portion of the beam on a single shot at a variety of wavelengths. Finally, we propose a scheme for a full three-dimensional reconstruction of an electron bunch through coherent transition radiation analysis.
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