R.P. Walker(a), J.A. Clarke(c), M.E. Couprie(b), G. Dattoli(e), M. Eriksson(f), D. Garzella(b), L. Giannessi(e), M. Marsi(a), D. N
lle(d), D .Nutarelli(b), M.W. Poole(c), H. Quick(d), E. Renault(b), R. Roux(a), M. Trovò(a), S. Werin(f), K. Wille(d)
(a) Sincrotrone Trieste; (b) SPAM-CEA and LURE, Orsay, France; (c) CLRC-Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, UK; (d) University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany; (e) ENEA-Frascati, Frascati, Italy; (f) MAX-lab, Lund, Sweden
The European storage ring FEL project at ELETTRA aims to develop a FEL user facility in the UV/VUV, providing tuneable operation between 350 nm and at least 190 nm. The main distinguishing features of the project are - the use of a high quality electron beam from a ``third-generation'' synchrotron radiation source, the use of a helical optical klystron to reduce power loading on the mirrors, and the use of sophisticated mirror chambers that allow in-situ switching between different mirrors.
The final hardware elements were installed in the middle of February 2000. After only 30 hours of beam time, lasing was first obtained on February 29th at 350 nm. Our efforts have subsequently been devoted to characterise the FEL and achieve shorter lasing wavelengths. The current limit is 218 nm. In this paper after a brief project review we concentrate on FEL physics issues - the laser characteristics and the correspondence with expectations, the influence of the laser on the electron beam and the saturation mechanism, as well as on future development plans.
