EP-4736283-A1 - LIGHT SOURCE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATION

Abstract

A light source system, preferably including one or more electron inputs, splitters, recombiners, and/or electron outputs, and optionally including one or more accelerator modules, input transports, radiator modules, and/or output transports. The system can optionally include one or more ancillary elements (e.g., electron optics elements). A method of operation, preferably including operating in a normal mode and/or operating in a backup mode.

Inventors

• DOUGLAS, DAVID
• Legg, Robert
• MAYES, CHRISTOPHER
• DUNHAM, Bruce
• CONWAY, JOSEPH
• NEIL, George Randall
• PIERCE, CHRISTOPHER
• GULLIFORD, Colwyn

Assignees

• xLight Inc.

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20240805

Claims (20)

1. 1. A light source system comprising: • a first kicker configured to: • receive an input electron beam comprising a plurality of electron bunches; and • deflect electron bunches of the electron beam substantially within a first plane, thereby spatially separating the input electron beam into a first plurality of electron beams; • a second kicker configured to: • receive the first plurality of electron beams; and • deflect electron bunches of the first plurality of electron beams substantially within a second plane, thereby spatially separating the first plurality of electron beams into a second plurality of electron beams; • a first septum configured to: • receive a first subset of the second plurality of electron beams; and • deflect electron beams of the first subset substantially within the first plane; and • a second septum configured to: • receive a second subset of the second plurality of electron beams; and • deflect electron beams of the second subset substantially within the second plane.
2. 2. The system of Claim 1, further comprising an array of quadrupole magnets arranged substantially along the array axis and defining a focusing-defocusing (FODO) lattice, the FODO lattice defining a period length, the array axis defined along an intersection of the first plane and the second plane, the array comprising: • a first magnet arranged between the first kicker and the second kicker, the first magnet configured to focus the first plurality of electron beams substantially within the first plane; • a second magnet arranged between the second kicker and the first septum, the second magnet arranged substantially half a period length along the array axis from the first magnet, the second magnet configured to focus the second plurality of electron beams substantially within the second plane; and • a third magnet arranged between the first septum and the second septum, the third magnet arranged substantially half of a period length along the array axis from the second magnet and substantially one period length along the array axis from the first magnet, the third magnet configured to focus the electron beams of the second subset substantially within the first plane.
3. 3. The system of Claim 2, wherein the third magnet is further configured to focus the electron beams of the first subset substantially within the first plane, the system further comprising: • a third septum configured to: • receive the first subset of the second plurality of electron beams from the third magnet; and • deflect electron beams of the first subset substantially within the first plane; and • a fourth septum configured to: • receive the second subset of the second plurality of electron beams; and • deflect electron beams of the second subset substantially within the second plane; wherein the third septum is arranged between the second septum and the fourth septum.
4. 4. The system of Claim 3, further comprising a fourth magnet arranged between the second septum and the third septum, wherein: • the fourth magnet is arranged substantially half of a period length along the array axis from the third magnet and substantially one period length along the array axis from the second magnet; • the fourth magnet is configured to focus the second plurality of electron beams substantially within the second plane; and • the third septum is configured to receive the first subset of the second plurality of electron beams from the third magnet via the fourth magnet.
5. 5. The system of Claim 4, further comprising a fifth magnet arranged between the third septum and the fourth septum, wherein: • the fifth magnet is arranged substantially half of a period length along the array axis from the fourth magnet and substantially one period length along the array axis from the third magnet; • the fifth magnet is configured to focus the second subset of the second plurality of electron beams substantially within the first plane; and • the fourth septum is configured to receive the second subset of the second plurality of electron beams from the fifth magnet.
6. 6. The system of Claim 5, wherein the first plane is substantially orthogonal to the second plane.
7. 7. The system of Claim 2, wherein the first plane is substantially orthogonal to the second plane.
8. 8. The system of Claim 1, wherein the first plane is substantially orthogonal to the second plane.
9. 9. The system of Claim 8, wherein: • the second plurality of electron beams comprises a first, second, third, and fourth electron beam; • the first subset comprises the first and second electron beams; and • the second subset comprises the third and fourth electron beams.
10. 10. The system of Claim 1, wherein: • the second plurality of electron beams comprises a first, second, third, and fourth electron beam; • the first subset comprises the first and second electron beams; and • the second subset comprises the third and fourth electron beams.
11. 11. The system of Claim 10, further comprising: • a first radiator module comprising a first undulator, the first radiator module configured to receive the first electron beam and, at the first undulator, generate a first light output via free-electron lasing; • a second radiator module comprising a second undulator, the second radiator module configured to receive the second electron beam and, at the second undulator, generate a second light output via free-electron lasing; • a third radiator module comprising a third undulator, the third radiator module configured to receive the third electron beam and, at the third undulator, generate a third light output via free-electron lasing; and • a fourth radiator module comprising a fourth undulator, the fourth radiator module configured to receive the fourth electron beam and, at the fourth undulator, generate a fourth light output via free-electron lasing.
12. 12. The system of Claim n, further comprising: • a third kicker configured to: • receive the first electron beam and the second electron beam; and • deflect at least one beam substantially within a third plane, thereby recombining the first and second electron beams into a first recombined beam, wherein the at least one beam is selected from the group consisting of: the first electron beam and the second electron beam; and • a fourth kicker configured to: • receive the third electron beam, the fourth electron beam, and the first recombined beam; and • deflect at least two beams substantially within a fourth plane, thereby recombining the third electron beam, the fourth electron beam, and the first recombined beam into a second recombined beam, wherein the at least two beams are selected from the group consisting of: the third electron beam, the fourth electron beam, and the first recombined beam.
13. 13. The system of Claim 12, wherein the first plane is parallel to the third plane.
14. 14. The system of Claim 12, further comprising an accelerator module comprising an energy recovery loop (ERL), the accelerator module configured to: • provide a first subset of the plurality of electron bunches to the first kicker; and • at the ERL, receive the first subset of the plurality of electron bunches after the first subset of the plurality of electron bunches traverse the fourth kicker.
15. 15. The system of Claim 14, further comprising a second accelerator module comprising a second ERL, the second accelerator module configured to: • provide a second subset of the plurality of electron bunches to the first kicker; and • at the second ERL, receive the second subset of the plurality of electron bunches after the second subset of the plurality of electron bunches traverse the fourth kicker.
16. 16. The system of Claim 12, wherein the first radiator module further comprises: • a fifth kicker configured to receive the first electron beam and split the first electron beam into a third plurality of spatially-separated electron beams; • a plurality of undulators, the plurality comprising the first undulator, wherein, for each electron beam of the third plurality: the plurality of undulators comprises a respective undulator configured to receive the respective electron beam and generate a respective light output via free-electron lasing; and • a sixth kicker configured to receive the third plurality of electron beams and recombine the third plurality of electron beams into a third recombined beam.
17. 17. The system of Claim 1, further comprising a plurality of radiator modules, each radiator module of the plurality comprising a respective undulator, wherein, for each electron beam of the second plurality: a respective radiator module of the plurality is configured to receive the respective electron beam and, at the respective undulator, generate a respective light output via free-electron lasing.
18. 18. The system of Claim 17, wherein, for each radiator module of the plurality, the respective radiator module comprises: • a respective splitting kicker configured to receive a respective electron beam and split it into a respective plurality of spatially-separated electron beams; • for each electron beam of the respective plurality: a respective undulator configured to receive the respective electron beam and generate a respective light output via free-electron lasing; and • a respective recombining kicker configured to receive the respective plurality of spatially-separated electron beams and recombine them into a respective recombined electron beam.
19. 19. The system of Claim 1, wherein: • the first kicker deflects a first subset of electron bunches in a first direction, deflects a second subset of electron bunches in a second direction opposing the first direction, and does not substantially deflect a third subset of electron bunches; • the first subset of electron bunches define a first redirected beam; • the second subset of electron bunches define a second redirected beam; • the third subset of electron bunches define a remainder beam; • the second kicker deflects a fourth subset of electron bunches of the remainder beam in a third direction and deflects a fifth subset of electron bunches of the remainder beam in a fourth direction opposing the third direction; • the fourth subset of electron bunches define a third redirected beam; and • the fifth subset of electron bunches define a fourth redirected beam.
20. 20. The system of Claim 19, wherein: • the first subset of electron bunches consists of about 25% of the electron bunches of the plurality; • the second subset of electron bunches consists of about 25% of the electron bunches of the plurality; • the third subset of electron bunches consists of about 50% of the electron bunches of the plurality; • the fourth subset of electron bunches consists of about 25% of the electron bunches of the plurality; and • the fifth subset of electron bunches consists of about 25% of the electron bunches of the plurality.

Description

LIGHT SOURCE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATION CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application serial number 63/531,967, filed on 10-AUG-2023, which is incorporated in its entirety by this reference. TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] This invention relates generally to the light source field, and more specifically to a new and useful light source system and method of operation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES [0003] FIGURES 1A-1C are schematic representations of a first, second, and third variation, respectively, of a light source system. [0004] FIGURES 2A-2B are schematic representations of a first variant of a first embodiment and a specific example of the first variant, respectively, of a portion of the light source system. [0005] FIGURES 2C-2D are schematic representations of a second variant of the first embodiment and a specific example of the second variant, respectively, of a portion of the light source system. [0006] FIGURES 2E-2F are schematic representations of a projection onto a first and second deflection plane, respectively, of a specific example of a splitter of the light source system. [0007] FIGURES 2G-2H are schematic representations of a projection onto a first and second deflection plane, respectively, of a specific example of a recombiner of the light source system. [0008] FIGURES 3A-3B are schematic representations of a second embodiment and a specific example of the second embodiment, respectively, of a portion of the light source system. [0009] FIGURE 3C is a schematic representation of an example of operating the second embodiment of the portion of the light source system in a backup mode. [0010] FIGURE 4 is a schematic representation of a specific example of a second portion of the light source system. [0011] FIGURES 5A-5B are schematic representations of timing associated with a first example of operating in a normal mode and a backup mode, respectively. [0012] FIGURES 5C-5D are schematic representations of timing associated with a second example of operating in a normal mode and a backup mode, respectively. [0013] FIGURE 6 is a schematic representation of timing associated with a second example of operating in the normal mode. [0014] FIGURE 7 is a flowchart representation of a method of operation. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [0015] The following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention is not intended to limit the invention to these preferred embodiments, but rather to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use this invention. 1. Overview. [0016] A light source system 100 preferably includes one or more electron inputs no, splitters 120, recombiners 160, and/or electron outputs 170, and preferably includes one or more accelerator modules 101, input transports 130, radiator modules 140, and/or output transports 150 (e.g., as shown in FIGURES 1A-1C, 2A-2D, and/or 3A-3B). The system 100 can optionally include one or more ancillary elements (e.g., electron optics elements) and/ or can additionally or alternatively include any other suitable elements in any suitable arrangement. [0017] A method of operation 400 preferably includes operating in a normal mode S410 and/or operating in a backup mode S420 (e.g., as shown in FIGURE 7). However, the method 400 can additionally or alternatively include any other suitable elements performed in any suitable manner. [0018] The system 100 preferably defines a plurality of electron beam paths (e.g., each passing through a different radiator module of the system). The path length differences between different electron beam paths (e.g., between all paths taken by electron bunches from a single accelerator module, which may include all paths, such as in some examples of operating in a backup mode) are preferably equal (or substantially equal) to an integer multiple of the electron travel distance defined by the accelerator frequency (e.g., the electron velocity divided by the accelerator frequency). In one example, in which the accelerator frequency/ is 750 MHz and the electron velocity is approximately equal to the speed of light c, the corresponding electron travel distance is approximately equal to c/f = 40 cm, and so the path length differences are preferably equal to an integer multiple of 40 cm. In a second example, some or all of the paths are configured to have the same path length (or substantially the same path length, such as within a threshold difference that is less than a typical variation in electron bunch timing exhibited by the accelerator modules). In some embodiments, some or all of the electron beam paths can optionally include one or more elements arranged along them that are operable to adjust the path length (and/ or the electron energy), which can function to enable tuning of this path length difference (e.g., in response to operational changes, such as switching from a normal mode to a backup mode). [0019] A person of skill in t