3D theory of a high-gain free-electron laser based on a transverse gradient undulator

The performance of a free-electron laser (FEL) depends significantly on the various parameters of the driving electron beam. In particular, a large energy spread in the beam results in a substantial reduction of the FEL gain, an effect which is especially relevant when one considers FELs driven by p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review special topics. PRST-AB. Accelerators and beams Vol. 17; no. 2; p. 020701
Main Authors Baxevanis, Panagiotis, Ding, Yuantao, Huang, Zhirong, Ruth, Ronald
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published College Park American Physical Society 01.02.2014
Subjects
Electron beams
Free electron lasers
High gain
Laser applications
Optimization
Plasma accelerators
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Summary:The performance of a free-electron laser (FEL) depends significantly on the various parameters of the driving electron beam. In particular, a large energy spread in the beam results in a substantial reduction of the FEL gain, an effect which is especially relevant when one considers FELs driven by plasma accelerators or ultimate storage rings. For such cases, one possible solution is to use a transverse gradient undulator (TGU). In this concept, the energy spread problem is mitigated by properly dispersing the electron beam and introducing a linear, transverse field dependence in the undulator. This paper presents a self-consistent theoretical analysis of a TGU-based, high-gain FEL which takes into account three-dimensional (3D) effects, including beam size variations along the undulator. The results of our theory compare favorably with simulation and are used in fast optimization studies of various x-ray FEL configurations.
ISSN:1098-4402
1098-4402
2469-9888
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.17.020701