Design Alternatives for a Free Electron Laser Facility

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is continuing design efforts for a vacuum ultraviolet/X-ray Free Electron Laser facility. The design incorporates seeding the FEL to provide fully coherent photon output at energies up to {approx}1 keV. The focus of the present work is to minimize the cost of the facility while preserving its performance. To achieve this we are exploring variations in the electron beam driver for the FEL, in undulator design, and in the seeding mechanism. Design optimizations and trade-offs between the various technologies and how they affect the FEL scientific program will be presented.