UCLA, Los Angeles, California
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York
Coherent radiation emitted by relativistic electron bunches traversing the edge regions of dipole magnets in a chicane bunch compressor was extracted and transported for measurement, using a dedicated terahertz beamline at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Measurements include frequency spectrum and polarization of the radiation. The measurements are compared to predictions from QUINDI, a new simulation code developed at UCLA to model radiation emitted by charged particles in bending systems. Simulations and measurements indicate that because of interference of radiation from the two magnet edges, the edge radiation is suppressed at long wavelengths. In addition to being a source of broadband terahertz radiation, the system is also used as a non-invasive, single-shot, relative bunch length diagnostic to monitor compression in the chicane.
UCLA, Los Angeles, California
Funding: Work supported by DOE.
We report experimental observation of narrow-bandwidth pulses of coherent Cherenkov radiation produced when a sub-picosecond electron bunch travels along the axis of a hollow circular cylindrical dielectric-loaded waveguide. For an appropriate choice of dielectric structure properties and driving electron beam parameters, the device operates in a single-mode regime, producing radiation in the THz range. We present measurements showing the emission of a narrowly-peaked spectrum from a fused silica tube 1 centimeter long with sub-millimeter transverse dimensions. We discuss the agreement of this data with theoretical and computational predictions, as well as possibilities for future study and application.
UCLA, Los Angeles, California
Funding: This work was supported by DOE grants DE-FG03-92ER40727 and DE-FG03-92ER40693
Many proposals and ongoing national projects exist worldwide to build a single-pass X-ray FEL amplifier in which a high-brightness, multi-GeV electron beam has a resonant energy exchange with radiation in an undulator. Because of the practical limit on the undulator period, the electron beam energy represents one of constraints on the shortest reachable wavelength. Recently the high-order harmonic FEL/IFEL interactions were considered theoretically as a technique that would allow the reduction of the beam energy without corresponding decrease in the undulator period and the magnetic field strength. We demonstrate microbunching of the 12.3 MeV electrons in a 7th order IFEL interaction, where the seed radiation frequency is seven times higher then the fundamental frequency. Strong longitudinal modulation of the beam is inferred from the observation of the first, second and third harmonics of the seed radiation in a Coherent Transition Radiation spectrum. The level of seed power is comparable to that required for microbunching at the fundamental frequency of the ten-period-long undulator. The implications of these results for the next generation of FELs will be explored.
