The ARC-EN-CIEL FEL proposal

We propose an accelerator based 4^th generation source to provide coherent femtosecond light pulses down to the soft X ray range to the user community. The project is based on a CW 700 MeV to 1 GeV superconducting linear accelerator delivering high charge, subpicosecond, low emittance electron bunches with high repetition rate. This facility allows for providing High Gain Harmonic Generation seeded with high harmonics in gases, covering a spectral range down to 0.8 nm. In addition, two beam loops are foreseen to increase the beam current in using the energy recovery technique. They will accommodate fs synchrotron radiation sources in the IR, VUV and X ray ranges together with a PEL oscillator in the 10 nm range. A particular emphasis is put on the synergy between accelerator and laser communities. In particular, electron plasma acceleration will be tested. Hard X ray femtosecond radiation will be produced by Thomson Scattering. The first phase of the project, ARC-EN-CIEL phase 1, is now under study. A general overview is given.