X-ray-optical cross-correlator for gas-phase experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron laser

X-ray-optical pump-probe experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) have so far been limited to a time resolution of 280 fs fwhm due to timing jitter between the accelerator-based free-electron laser (FEL) and optical lasers. We have implemented a single-shot cross-correlator for femtosecond x-ray and infrared pulses. A reference experiment relying only on the pulse arrival time information from the cross-correlator shows a time resolution better than 50 fs fwhm (22 fs rms) and also yields a direct measurement of the maximal x-ray pulse length. The improved time resolution enables ultrafast pump-probe experiments with x-ray pulses from LCLS and other FEL sources. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3695163]