Practical considerations for the ion channel free-electron laser

B. Ersfeld*, R. Bonifacio, S. Chen, M. R. Islam, D. A. Jaroszynski

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution book

1 Citation (Scopus)
104 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The ion-channel laser (ICL) has been proposed as an alternative to the free-electron laser (FEL), replacing the deflection of electrons by the periodic magnetic field of an undulator with the periodic betatron motion in an ion channel. Ion channels can be generated by passing dense energetic electron bunches or intense laser pulses through plasma. The ICL has potential to replace FELs based on magnetic undulators, leading to very compact coherent X-ray sources. In particular, coupling the ICL with a laser plasma wakefield accelerator would reduce the size of a coherent light source by several orders of magnitude. An important difference between FEL and ICL is the wavelength of transverse oscillations: In the former it is fixed by the undulator period, whereas in the latter it depends on the betatron amplitude, which therefore has to be treated as variable. Even so, the resulting equations for the ICL are formally similar to those for the FEL with space charge taken into account, so that the well-developed formalism for the FEL can be applied. The amplitude dependence leads to additional requirements compared to the FEL, e.g. a small spread of betatron amplitudes. We shall address these requirements and the resulting practical considerations for realizing an ICL, and give parameters for operation at UV fundamental wavelength, with harmonics extending into X-rays.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRelativistic Plasma Waves and Particle Beams as Coherent and Incoherent Radiation Sources
Subtitle of host publicationPrague, Czech Republic, April 13, 2015
EditorsDino A. Jaroszynski
Place of PublicationBellingham, WA.
Number of pages9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 May 2015
EventRelativistic Plasma Waves and Particle Beams as Coherent and Incoherent Radiation Sources - Prague, Czech Republic
Duration: 15 Apr 201516 Apr 2015

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE
PublisherSPIE
Volume9509
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceRelativistic Plasma Waves and Particle Beams as Coherent and Incoherent Radiation Sources
Country/TerritoryCzech Republic
CityPrague
Period15/04/1516/04/15

Keywords

  • betatron oscillations
  • coherent X-ray source
  • free-electron laser
  • ion channel

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