Generation of attosecond x-ray pulses with a multi-cycle two-color ESASE scheme

Generation of attosecond x-ray pulses is attracting much attention within the x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) user community. Several schemes have been proposed based on manipulations of electron bunches with extremely short laser pulses. In this paper, we extend the attosecond twocolor ESASE scheme proposed by Zholents et al. to the long optical cycle regime using a detuned second laser and a tapered undulator. Both lasers can be about ten-opticalcycles long, with the second laser frequency detuned from the first one to optimize the contrast between the central and side current spikes. A tapered undulator mitigates the degradation effect of the longitudinal space charge (LSC) force in the undulator and suppresses the FEL gain of all side current spikes. Simulations using the LCLS parameters show a single attosecond x-ray spike of ∼ 110 attosecond can be produced with a good contrast ratio.