Generation and measurement of ultrashort free electron laser pulses in ultraviolet and soft-x-ray spectral regions

Over the last few years, tremendous progress has been gained in the generation and application of ultrashort radiation pulses. Recently, free-electron lasers generating ultrashort pulses with high peak power from the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) to the soft-x-ray region are opening a wide range of new scientific opportunities. Taking advantage of this short timescale permits probing ultrafast, out-of-equilibrium dynamics and the high intensities are key for nonlinear optics. The core structure of the extremely important light elements carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen can be accessed by soft-x-ray wavelengths by providing chemical sensitivity. Externally seeded free-electron lasers generate coherent pulses with the ability to be synchronized with femtosecond accuracy. In this contribution, we present new achievements in the generation of coherent ultrashort pulses in the range of EUV to the soft-x-ray in externally seeded FELs. In particular, we present the recently successful robust experiment at FERMI in Trieste, where few-femtosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses were generated and characterized in terms of energy, and duration via autocorrelation.