Laser Science and Development – Laser Research and Development Progress with the 4GLS ERL prototype photoinjector laser system G J Hirst, M Divall, I N Ross Central Laser Facility, CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon., OX11 0QX, UK F E Hannon, G D Markey CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 4AD, UK Main contact email address:
[email protected] Introduction The design of a laser system to generate bunches of photoelectrons for subsequent acceleration in the 4GLS Energy Recovery Linac prototype was reported last year1). Since then we have commissioned the laser itself, implemented the choppers for time-structuring the beam and designed the hardware needed to attenuate and stretch the individual pulses. In February 2005 the whole system was transported from the CLF development lab, at RAL, to Daresbury, where it was installed in a custom-built laser room (see Figure 1). Further development and testing has continued there. Laser performance The laser (High Q Lasers, IC-532-5000) is a modelocked, frequency-doubled Nd:YVO4 unit, consisting of an 81.25 MHz Figure 1. The laser system during installation at Daresbury. oscillator, an amplifier to raise the average power to >10 W and an LBO frequency doubler to convert the infrared fundamental Attenuating and pulse stretching to green light at 532 nm. The system was supplied as an integrated whole, when it delivered ~5 W in the green. The ERLP accelerator is designed with an 80 pC electron bunch charge. Variations from this would affect the way the bunch The ERLP accelerator needs the cw-modelocked laser beam to expands due to Coulomb repulsion before it reaches relativistic be chopped into pulse trains, using a combination of mechanical speed.