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X-ray photonics

A step towards cavity-based X-ray free electron lasers

Nature Photonics volume 17, pages 841–842 (2023)Cite this article

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The demonstration of a low-loss diamond mirror cavity that can temporally store X-ray pulses brings hope for a future generation of X-ray free electron lasers.

Free electron lasers are powerful sources of coherent radiation that were first proposed in the 1970s by John Madey at Stanford University1. They have since evolved to become a key tool available to scientists wanting to perform time-resolved investigations of matter2. Free electron lasers (FELs) extend the attractive emission properties of conventional lasers, such as ultra-short pulses, high power and transverse coherence into the X-ray spectral region. This is possible thanks to their unique gain mechanism, which exploits a resonant energy transfer interaction between the electromagnetic wave to be amplified and a monoenergetic and relativistic electron beam passing through a periodic magnetic field generated by an undulator. In contrast to standard lasers relying on atomic or molecular transitions, the wavelength of operation of a FEL can be freely tuned over a very wide spectral range, spanning from the infrared to X-rays, by properly choosing the electron beam energy and the undulator parameters.

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Fig. 1

Diling Zhu, SLAC

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste, Italy

    Enrico Allaria & Giovanni De Ninno

  2. University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica, Slovenia

    Giovanni De Ninno

Authors
  1. Enrico Allaria
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  2. Giovanni De Ninno
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Enrico Allaria or Giovanni De Ninno.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Allaria, E., De Ninno, G. A step towards cavity-based X-ray free electron lasers. Nat. Photon. 17, 841–842 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-023-01302-0

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