New capabilities with the short-pulse laser system of the MEC instrument at LCLS

We report on the recent upgrade of the MEC instrument at the LCLS x-ray free electron laser improving the beam delivery of the short-pulse laser system. New optomechanics platforms have been designed and commissioned to guarantee a faster and more reliable setup of the short-pulse laser beam. These are part of the new standard beam delivery configurations offered at MEC in conjunction with the FEL beam. A low-energy configuration is available with 10 mJ in 50 fs at 400 nm. An uncompressed configuration was also carried out with 1.5 J in 150 ps at 800 nm. Finally, a high-intensity configuration is offered with 1 J in 50 fs at both 800 and 400 nm, available at different incidence angles from 22˚ to 59˚. We will present the technical performances of these beam delivery configurations in terms of pointing stability, spatial and temporal overlap with the x-ray beam and wave-front profile. We will also highlight recent scientific results obtained with these platforms that support broad fields of physics enabled with these new features at MEC.