Operation of the OK-4/Duke storage ring FEL below 200 nm

For a number of years the wavelength of 200 nm was a psychological barrier for FEL oscillators. The progress towards short wavelength was marginal since the OK-4/VEPP-3 storage ring FEL lased at 240 nm in 1988. After 10 years, in 1998, the OK-4/Duke FEL and the NIJI-IV FEL group moved the limit to 217 and 212 nm, respectively. Improvements of the OK-4/Duke storage ring FEL gain above 10% and the use of custom manufactured mirror coatings brought the success in August 1999. The OK-4 FEL lased in the range from 193.7 to 209.8 nm using electron energies from 500 to 800 MeV. In this paper, we present the description of the OK-4/Duke FEL up-grades and the lasing results below 200 nm obtained in August and October of 1999. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.