Seminars Archive

SwissFEL – The PSI Project for a hard X-ray Free Electron Laser Facility

Abstract
PSI is preparing the construction of a hard X-ray FEL, SwissFEL, as its next major research facility. The baseline design consists of a 5.8 GeV linear accelerator and two undulator lines covering the wavelength range from 1-70 Ã…. Among the special design features of SwissFEL are an r.m.s. pulse length of less than 12 fs, 100 Hz pulse rate in both FEL lines simultaneously, polarization control for soft X-rays, seeding for one of the undulator lines and an independent THz source for pump-probe experiments. The scientific case for SwissFEL has been discussed in a series of topical workshops and is documented in a summary report. The technical R&D is moving ahead rapidly, with the first gun test facility in operation and a second one (SwissFEL injector facility) under construction. A construction in two phases of 4 years each is foreseen, with the first phase beginning 2012. The goal of the first phase is to provide a 1 Ã… FEL beam in 2016.