REVIEW OF RECENT EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS FROM THE STANFORD 3µm FREE ELECTRON LASER

Abstract

New data has been taken on the Stanford Free Electron Laser (FEL) with improved electron beam characteristics. For the first time we have studied the temporal structure of the optical pulses using optical autocorrelation techniques. The new data is compared and contrasted with earlier data. Several puzzling aspects of the previous data appear correlated with drifts in the spectrum and current of the electron beam. Autocorrelation results indicate nearly transform limited pulses which are shorter than expected at large values of the cavity length detuning. We also report here experiments carried out to study the intrinsic second harmonic radiation and the effects of the superimposed solenoidal magnetic field on laser operation