Optical Beam Properties and Performance of the MID-IR FEL at ELBE

First lasing of the mid-infrared free-electron laser at ELBE was achieved on May 7, 2004. Since then stable lasing has been achieved in the IR range from 4 to 22~μm using electron beam energies from 15 to 35~MeV. At all wavelengths below 20~μm a cw optical power higher than 1~W can be produced with an electron beam of 50~pC bunch charge or less. The optical pulse width at its minimum (2.2~ps measured at 17~μm) resembles the typical electron bunch length of 2~ps without bunch compression but can be increased by detuning the optical cavity. The optical bandwidth was in all cases close to the fourier limit.