Ultrashort pulses from synchrotron radiation sources

Abstract

Synchrotron light sources with short and tunable wavelength are the workhorses to study the structure of matter. Their pulse duration of tens of picoseconds, however, is insufficient to investigate ultrafast processes on the atomic scale. On the other hand, lasers provide femtosecond pulses, but only at long wavelengths. To fulfill the demand for radiation with short wavelength and short-pulse duration, laser-based table-top sources were developed, e.g., using high-harmonic generation, and a new accelerator-based source of very intense ultrashort X-ray pulses was invented: the free-electron laser (FEL). While presently four shortwavelength FELs exist worldwide as single-user facilities, about 50 synchrotron light sources routinely provide radiation to multiple users simultaneously, often in 24/7 operation. Therefore, this article takes a closer look at methods to extend conventional synchrotron radiation sources toward shorter pulse duration.