Generating stable attosecond x-ray pulse trains with a mode-locked seeded free-electron laser

Generation of attosecond x-ray pulses is attracting much attention within the x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) user community. We propose a novel scheme for the generation of coherent stable attosecond x-ray pulse trains in a seeded FEL, via a process of mode-locked amplification. Three modulators and two chicanes are used for generating separated attosecond scale microstructures in the electron beam using the beam echo effect. Such electron beam will produce high harmonic radiation with a comb of longitudinal modes at the very beginning of the radiator. By using a series of spatiotemporal shifts between the copropagating radiation and electron beam in the radiator, all these modes can be preserved and amplified to saturation. Using a representative realistic set of parameters, three-dimensional simulation results show that trains of 200 attosecond soft x-ray pulses with stable peak powers at gigawatt level can be generated directly from ultraviolet seed lasers. The even spacing between the attosecond pulses can be easily altered from subfemtosecond to tens of femtoseconds by slightly changing the wavelength of one seed laser.