The Los Alamos High-Brightness Accelerator FEL (HBAF) Facility

The 10 /spl mu/m Los Alamos free-electron laser (FEL) facility is being upgraded. The conventional electron gun and bunchers have been replaced with a much more compact, 6 MeV photoinjector accelerator. By adding existing parts from previous experiments, the primary beam energy will be doubled to 40 MeV. With the existing 1 m wiggler (/spl lambda//sub w/= 2.7 cm) and resonator, the facility can produce photons with wavelengths from 3 to 100 /spl mu/m when lasing on the fundamental mode and produce photons in the visible spectrum with short-period wigglers or harmonic operation. After installation of a 150/spl deg/ bend, a second wiggler will be added as an amplifier. The installation of laser transport tubes between the accelerator vault and an upstairs laboratory will provide experimenters with a radiation-free environment for experiments. Although the initial experimental program of the upgraded facility will be to test the single-accelerator master-oscillator/power amplifier configuration, some portion of the operational time of the facility can be dedicated to user experiments.