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Info collection for the BAM

Version 6.1 by cpassow on 2020/04/24 10:42
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  • the relevant data is the Arrivaltime FLASH.SDIAG/BAM/4DBC3/LOW_CHARGE_ARRIVAL_TIME
  • besides the arivaltime from FLASH1 there is also the FLASH2/3 electron arrival time saved. The BAM data is saved for the complete RF pulse. First bunches are from FLASH1 then there is a gap for switching and then there is a second part for FLASH2 (starting at the FLASH2 start time (recorded in DAQ as /FL2/Timing/start time flash2))


  • There are now (since March 2017) LOW and HIGH charge channels. for now the LOW_CHARGE Channel is the relavant one.
  • bigger numbers indicate later arrivaltime of the electrons
  • the arrivaltime sould be within -20 ps and +20 ps . otherwise there might be a problem ...
  • There is a BAM status parameter: FLASH.SDIAG/BAM/4DBC3/BAM_STATUS.1 (the 1 indicates FLASH1)
    • bit 0 (value: 1) = data is valid,
    • bit 1 (value: 2) = at least 1 bunch is present,
    • bit 2 (value: 4) = calibration is on,
    • bit 3 (value: 8) = internal feedback is on,
    • bit 4 (value: 16) = tuning mode is on


  • if DBC3 is not working then also 3DBC2 can be used. there is a linear correlation between BC2 and BC3

more Info to the BAM:


General information for the data analysis of pump-probe experiments


please have a close look to the publication:

Evgeny Savelyev, et al,  Jitter-Correction for IR/UV-XUV Pump-Probe Experiments at the FLASH Free-Electron Laser,
New J. Phys. 19, 043009 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aa652d

describing in detail the usage of BAM, streak camera and delay line data in order to get the actual time axis as reliable as possible.


Here is a summary of the ideas:

Streak camera info

  • the streak camera measures the delay between optical (amplified) laser and FEL (dipole radiation). - not in respect to the master clock !
  • streak camera ONLY delivers data which is averaged over several 10 seconds. There is NO shot to shot info.
  • a larger value of the streak camera delay (typically) indicates that the optical laser comes later than the FEL (or FEL earlier than the laser ...)



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