Free-electron lasers generate high-brilliance coherent radiation at wavelengths spanning from the infrared to the X-ray domains. The recent development of short-wavelength seeded free-electron lasers now allows for unprecedented levels of control on longitudinal coherence, opening new scientific avenues such as ultra-fast dynamics on complex systems and X-ray nonlinear optics. Although those devices rely on state-of-the-art large-scale accelerators, advancements on laser-plasma accelerators, which harness gigavolt-per-centimetre accelerating fields, showcase a promising technology as compact drivers for free-electron lasers. Using such footprint-reduced accelerators, exponential amplification of a shot-noise type of radiation in a self-amplified spontaneous emission configuration was recently achieved. However, employing this compact approach for the delivery of temporally coherent pulses in a controlled manner has remained a major challenge. Here we present the experimental demonstration of a laser-plasma accelerator-driven free-electron laser in a seeded configuration, where control over the radiation wavelength is accomplished. Furthermore, the appearance of interference fringes, resulting from the interaction between the phase-locked emitted radiation and the seed, confirms longitudinal coherence. Building on our scientific achievements, we anticipate a navigable pathway to extreme-ultraviolet wavelengths, paving the way towards smaller-scale free-electron lasers, unique tools for a multitude of applications in industry, laboratories and universities.

The laser plasma accelerator has shown a great promise where it uses plasma wakefields achieving gradients as high as GeV/cm. With such properties, one would be able to build much more compact accelerators, compared to the conventional RF ones, that could be used for a wide range of fundamental research and applied applications. However, the electron beam properties are quite different, in particular, the high divergence, leading to a significant growth of the emittance along the transport line. It is, thus, essential to mitigate it via a strong focusing of the electron beam to enable beam transport. High-gradient quadrupoles achieving a gradient greater than 100 T/m are key components for handling laser plasma accelerator beams. Permanent magnet technology can be used to build very compact quadrupoles capable of providing a very large gradient up to 500 T/m. We present different designs, modeled with a 3D magnetostatic code, of fixed and variable systems. We also review different quadrupoles that have already been built and one design is compared to measurements.

Laser plasma acceleration (LPA) capable of providing femtosecond and GeV electron beams in cm scale distances brings a high interest for different applications, such as free electron laser and future colliders. Nevertheless, LPA high divergence and energy spread require an initial strong focus to mitigate the chromatic effects. The reliability, in particular with the pointing fluctuations, sets a real challenge for the control of the dispersion along the electron beam transport. We examine here how the magnetic defects of the first strong quadrupoles, in particular, the skew terms, can affect the brightness of the transported electron beam, in the case of the COXINEL transport line, designed for manipulating the electron beam properties for a free electron laser application. We also show that the higher the initial beam divergence, the larger the degradation. Experimentally, after having implemented a beam pointing alignment compensation method enabling us to adjust the position and dispersion independently, we demonstrate that the presence of non-negligible skew quadrupolar components induces a transversal spread and tilt of the beam, leading to an emittance growth and brightness reduction. We are able to reproduce the measurements with beam transport simulations using the measured electron beam parameters.

We report here on spontaneous undulator radiation and free electron laser calculations after a 10-m long transport line (COXINEL) using a Laser Plasma acceleration (LPA) source. The line enables the manipulation of the properties of the produced electron beams (energy spread, divergence, dispersion) in view of light source applications. The electron beam brightness and undulator radiation brilliance are addressed by an analytical approach enabling us to point out the influence of chromatic effects in the COXINEL case.

Laser plasma acceleration (LPA) enables the generation of an up to several GeV electron beam with a short bunch length and high peak current within a centimeter scale. In view of undulator type light source applications, electron beam manipulation has to be applied. We report here on detailed electron beam transport for an LPA electron beam on the COXINEL test line, that consists of strong permanent quadrupoles to handle the electron beam divergence, a magnetic chicane to reduce the energy spread and a second set of quadrupoles for adjusting the focusing inside the undulator. After describing the measured LPA characteristics, we show that we can properly transport the electron beam along the line, thanks to several screens. We also illustrate the influence of the chromatic effects induced by the electron beam energy spread, both experimentally and numerically. We then study the sensitivity of the transport to the electron beam pointing and skewed quadrupolar components.