Fiber-based, spatially and temporally shaped picosecond UV laser for advanced RF gun applications

The fiber-based, spatially and temporally shaped, picosecond UV laser system described here has been specifically designed for advanced rf gun applications, with a special emphasis on the production of high-brightness electron beams for free-electron lasers and Compton scattering light sources. The laser pulse can be shaped to a flat-top in both space and time with a duration of 10 ps at full width of half-maximum (FWHM) and rise and fall times under 1 ps. The expected pulse energy is 50 muJ at 261.75 nm and the spot size diameter of the beam at the photocathode is 2 mm. A fiber oscillator and amplifier system generates a chirped pump pulse at 1047 nm; stretching is achieved in a chirped fiber Bragg grating. A single multi-layer dielectric grating based compressor recompresses the input pulse to 250 fs FWHM and a two stage harmonic converter frequency quadruples the beam. Temporal shaping is achieved with a Michelson-based ultrafast pulse stacking device with nearly 100% throughput. Spatial shaping is achieved by truncating the beam at the 20% energy level with an iris and relay-imaging the resulting beam profile onto the photocathode. The integration of the system, as well as preliminary laser measurements will be presented.