Open AccessTowards jitter-free pump-probe measurements at seeded free electron laser facilities
Author(s) -
M. B. Danailov,
Filippo Bencivenga,
Flavio Capotondi,
F. Casolari,
Paolo Cinquegrana,
Alexander Demidovich,
Erika Giangrisostomi,
М. Кискинова,
G. Kurdi,
Michele Manfredda,
C. Masciovecchio,
Riccardo Mincigrucci,
Ivaylo Nikolov,
Emanuele Pedersoli,
Emiliano Principi,
Paolo Sigalotti
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.22.012869
Subject(s) - jitter , optics , laser , synchronizing , ultrashort pulse , physics , laser pumping , optoelectronics , computer science , telecommunications , transmission (telecommunications)
X-ray free electron lasers (FEL) coupled with optical lasers have opened unprecedented opportunities for studying ultrafast dynamics in matter. The major challenge in pump-probe experiments using FEL and optical lasers is synchronizing the arrival time of the two pulses. Here we report a technique that benefits from the seeded-FEL scheme and uses the optical seed laser for nearly jitter-free pump-probe experiments. Timing jitter as small as 6 fs has been achieved and confirmed by measurements of FEL-induced transient reflectivity changes of Si3N4 using both collinear and non-collinear geometries. Planned improvements of the experimental set-up are expected to further reduce the timing jitter between the two pulses down to fs level.