Speakers
Description
We report on the progress of the design and development of an X-ray Laser Oscillator (XLO) based on population inversion, to be driven by the LCLS-II-HE free-electron laser currently under construction at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The XLO concept exploits the brightness, high repetition rate (up to 1 MHz), and tunability of LCLS-II-HE photon beam to generate population inversion in a transition metal gain medium via inner-shell photoionization, enabling stimulated emission at X-ray wavelengths. The resulting device, an FEL pumped X-ray laser, will generate fully coherent, transform limited photon pulses, opening new experimental areas of research in quantum optics, interferometry and more. We discuss the choice of gain medium, the design of the X-ray resonator cavity employing high-reflectivity Bragg crystals and intracavity strong focusing Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors system, the expected gain and saturation dynamics, and the optimization of the interaction geometry for efficient energy transfer from the LCLS-II-HE pump pulses to the XLO gain medium. Numerical simulations of the population inversion dynamics and cavity round-trip gain are presented, together with an assessment of the required crystal reflectivity and mechanical stability tolerances. Potential scientific applications in ultrafast spectroscopy, quantum optics at X-ray wavelengths, and nuclear resonance scattering are outlined. The path toward a proof-of-concept experiment at LCLS-II-HE is described.
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