Abstract

The successful implementation of superconducting LINAC technology at the European XFEL will boost the time averaged X-ray power density substantially above current values, operating at repetition rates of up to 4.5MHz. However, this high pulse rate will occur during 600μs long bursts at 10Hz repetition rate, resulting in up to 27000 pulses per second. Picosecond lasers such as the injector-laser [e. g. 1], and the pump-probe femtosecond lasers used in experiments will need to match this burst-mode emission pattern. There are currently no “off-the-shelf” commercial femtosecond laser technologies producing this kind of output at close to mJ-level energies per pulse and sub-20fs pulse width. Therefore, at the European XFEL, a development project was launched in order to close this gap in time for the start of operation in 2016 [2].

© 2013 IEEE