Collaborative Research for a High-Resolution VUV Free Electron Laser User Facility at SPARC

Free electron lasers (FELs) are unique sources of tunable coherent radiation, based on the interaction of a relativistic electron beam with a permanent magnetic field. Taking advantage of their characteristics, many scientific applications are possible using these 4th generation powerful sources of radiations. With its high-quality beam the SPARC FEL designed to work at long wavelengths allows non-linear coherent harmonic generation also in the VUV range. Although other FEL proposals are under discussions in other European facilities in addition to SPARC a few other projects may now offer similar performances: TESLA at Hamburg and FERMI at Trieste. The document is a proposal to use the radiation emitted by SPARC in the ultraviolet range with a unique beamline to be installed in the LI2FE laboratory based on a high resolution monochromator made available from the STFC Daresbury Laboratory (U.K.).