Short-pulse effects in a free-electron laser

The Free-Electron Laser for Infrared eXperiments (FELIX) offers a unique combination of short electron bunches and long wavelengths, i.e. a slippage parameter μ_c ranging up to 10. As a consequence, pronounced short-pulse effects can be observed. In this paper the experimental observation of two of these effects is discussed, namely the occurrence of limit-cycle oscillations and the feasibility of tuning of the micropulse duration. The stable limit-cycle oscillation of the macropulse power is due to a modulation of the optical micropulse shape. This is a consequence of a combination of high optical power and short pulses. The former causes synchrotron oscillations of the electrons and the effect is, therefore, closely related to spiking phenomena. The short-pulse nature of FELIX ensures that the oscillations do not evolve into the chaotic behavior normally associated with spiking and the sideband instability. Experimental results are compared with numerical simulations