A SHORT PULSE Ti:Sapphire LASER SYSTEM FOR PHOTOCATHODE RESEARCH AT SLAC

A new laser laboratory has been constructed at SLAC to test and characterize photocathodegun physics and develop diagnostics for ultrafast FEL applications. At the heart of the laboratory is a dual-purpose Ti:Sapphire oscillator/regen laser that can deliver either 1.5-3.5 ps or 25 fs pulse durations. The primary objectives of the photocathoderesearch are to identify reliable Cu cathode cleaning recipes and to produce high quantum efficiency with low beam emittance. The ultrafast applications program is presently aimed at developing spectral- encoding systems for shot-to-shot pulse arrival time diagnostics with 10's of fs timing resolution. In this paper we review the laser system and update status of the physics programs.