THz beam line for pump probe experiments at FLASH: recent results and developments from the comissioning

At the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) free electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) an infrared (IR) beamline is currently being comissioned that will allow novel pump-and-probe experiments combining coherent IR pulses with the FEL radiation in the VUV spectral range. It provides useful IR, respectively THz, radiation generated by a purpose built undulator over the wavelength range from 200 micron to presently 14 micron. The undulator is implemented “in series” to the VUV undulators of FLASH and the length of the IR beamline can be matched to that of an existing VUV beamline so that overlap with VUV pulses generated by the same electron bunch can be achieved. Hence natural synchronization of the two pulses is expected. First results of the comissioning are shown and an outlook on future experiments and upgrades of the beamline as well as its photondiagnostics will be given.