The concept, design and performance of Japan's compact free-electron laser (FEL) facilities, the SPring-8 Compact SASE Source test accelerator (SCSS) and SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron LAser (SACLA), and their applications in mainly atomic, molecular and optical science are reviewed. At SCSS, intense, ultrafast FEL pulses at extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths have been utilized for investigating various multi-photon processes in atoms, molecules and clusters by means of ion and electron spectroscopy. The quantum optical effect superfluorescence has been observed with EUV excitation. A pump–probe technique combining FEL pulses with near infrared laser pulses has been realized to study the ultrafast dynamics of atoms, molecules and clusters in the sub-picosecond regime. At SACLA, deep inner-shell multi-photon ionization by intense x-ray FEL pulses has been investigated. The development of seeded FEL sources for producing transversely and temporally coherent light, as well as the expected impact on advanced science are discussed.

We have measured the vibrational structures of the N 1s photoelectron mainline and satellites of the gaseous N2 molecule with the resolution better than 75 meV. The gerade and ungerade symmetries of the core-ionized (mainline) states are resolved energetically, and symmetry-dependent angular distributions for the satellite emission allow us to resolve the Sigma and Pi symmetries of the shake-up (satellite) states. Symmetry-adapted cluster-expansion configuration-interaction calculations of the potential energy curves for the mainline and satellite states along with a Franck-Condon analysis well reproduce the observed vibrational excitation of the bands, illustrating that the theoretical calculations well predict the symmetry-dependent geometry relaxation effects. The energies of both mainline states and satellite states, as well as the splitting between the mainline gerade and ungerade states, are also well reproduced by the calculation: the splitting between the satellite gerade and ungerade states is calculated to be smaller than the experimental detection limit.

Electron beam ion traps (EBITs) are ideal tools for both production and study of highly charged ions (HCIs). In order to reduce their construction, maintenance, and operation costs, we have developed a novel, compact, room-temperature design, the Heidelberg Compact EBIT (HC-EBIT). Four already commissioned devices operate at the strongest fields (up to 0.86 T) reported for such EBITs using permanent magnets, run electron beam currents up to 80 mA, and energies up to 10 keV. They demonstrate HCI production, trapping, and extraction of pulsed Ar bunches and continuous 100 pA ion beams of highly charged Xe up to charge state 29+, already with a 4 mA, 2 keV electron beam. Moreover, HC-EBITs offer large solid-angle ports and thus high photon count rates, e.g., in x-ray spectroscopy of dielectronic recombination in HCIs up to Fe, achieving an electron-energy resolving power of E/ΔE > 1500 at 5 keV. Besides traditional on-axis electron guns, we have also implemented a novel off-axis gun for laser, synchrotron, and free-electron laser applications, offering clear optical access along the trap axis. We report on its first operation at a synchrotron radiation facility demonstrating the resonant photoexcitation of highly charged oxygen.