The commissioning of the PALLAS electron source has officially started, initially without the capture section and under limited laser performance conditions (1.7 J, 43 fs, 1 Hz) for the LASERIX laser driver. Following the flood damage sustained by the laboratory, the team has resumed operations and is now producing electron beams to debug and calibrate the characterisation beamline.
During this first experimental run, the electron source uses a two-stage gas target developed and built in-house at IJCLab. This system enables controlled ionisation injection, as described in Drobniak et al., RSI 2025. The target, measuring approximately 35 × 60 × 60 mm³, is among the most compact in the world and is directly integrated into the accelerator beamline on top of a hexapod platform.
Its integration poses a significant vacuum challenge, as the target operates in continuous gas flow. Overcoming these constraints represents a key step toward the development of fully integrated and compact laser–plasma injectors within the PALLAS facility.