Adaptive shaping system for both spatial and temporal profiles of a highly stabilized UV laser light source for a photocathode RF gun

We have been developing a stable and highly qualified ultraviolet (UV) laser pulse as a light source of an RF gun for an injector candidate of future light sources. Our gun cavity is a single-cell pillbox, and the copper inner wall is used as a photocathode. The chirped pulse amplification (CPA) Ti:sapphire laser system is operated at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. At the third harmonic generation (central wavelength—263 nm), the laser pulse energy after a 45 cm silica rod is up to 850 μJ/pulse. In its present status, the laser's pulse energy stability has been improved down to 0.2∼0.3% at the fundamental, and 0.7–1.4% (rms; 10 pps; 33,818 shots) at the third harmonic generation, respectively. This stability has been held for 1 month continuously, 24 h a day. The improvements we had passively implemented were to stabilize the laser system as well as the environmental conditions. We introduced a humidity-control system kept at 50–60% in a clean room to reduce damage to the optics. In addition, we prepared a deformable mirror for spatial shaping and a spatial light modulator based on fused-silica plates for temporal shaping. We are applying both the adaptive optics to automatic optimization of the electron beam bunch to produce lower emittance with the feedback routine. Before the improvements, the electron beam produced from a cathode suffered inhomogeneous distribution caused by the quantum efficiency effect, and some pulse distortions caused by its response time. However, we can now freely form any arbitrary electron beam distribution on the surface of the cathode.