• G.M. Kazakevich
  Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois
• Y.U. Jeong, B.C. Lee, S.-H. Park
  KAERI, Daejon
• G.I. Kuznetsov
  BINP SB RAS, Novosibirsk
• V. M. Pavlov
  Strathclyde University, Glasgow

Funding: Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics RAS, Academician Lavrentyev 11, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia; Laboratory for Quantum Optics, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, P. O. Box 105, Yusong, Taejon, 305-600, South Korea.

A reliable injection system of the widely tunable microtron-based terahertz Free Electron Laser (FEL) has been developed and during last few years provides stable operation of the FEL for users. The system is based on the long-life thermionic cathode assembly using 2.5 mm-in diameter monocrystalline LaB6 emitter, heated by the tungsten cylindrical filament with the power consumption less than 50 W. The cathode emits the macro-pulse current in the range of 1-1.4 A providing operation of the terahertz FEL during more than 1000 h. The cathode assembly is installed on the cover of the I-type microtron accelerating cavity in location providing an efficient injection for the acceleration with variable number of orbits. This variation widely changes the energy of the electron beam and allows on-the-fly retuning of the FEL in the range of 1-3 THz. Pulse-signal system stabilizing the emission current prevents randomized break-downs in the accelerating cavity and decreases macro-pulse power fluctuations of the FEL radiation. The fluctuations were measured to be less than 10% during long-time operation.

• Y.U. Jeong, H.J. Cha, B.C. Lee, S.-H. Park
  KAERI, Daejon
• G.M. Kazakevich
  Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois

We have developed a laboratory-scale users facility with a compact terahertz (THz) free electron laser (FEL). The FEL operates in the wavelength range of 100-1200 μm, which corresponds to 0.3-3 THz. The peak power of the FEL micropulse having 30 ps pulse duration is 1 kW and the pulse energy of the 3-μs-FEL-macropulse is approximately 0.3 mJ. The main application of the FEL is THz imaging for bio-medical researches. Transmitted THz imaging of various samples including bugs have been measured. The samples were scanned by a 2-dimensional stage at the focal point of the THz beam. The bugs were not dry because they were killed just before experiments. We could get the transmitted THz imaging of the bugs at 3 THz with the high power THz FEL. THz spectral characteristics of several materials have been studied by the FEL and a THz FTIR spectrometer. We will introduce recent results on the imaging and spectroscopy by the THz FEL.