Linear Theory of Free Electron Laser with a Plasma-Loaded Cylindrical Waveguide

The dispersion characteristics of plasma–loaded free-electron laser has been analyzed using linear fluid model. The device under consideration consists of the cylindrical metallic waveguide, completely filled with background plasma and a relativistic electron beam which passes through a helical wiggler magnetic field. The result predicts that reasonable plasma density tends to improve the growth rate of the low-frequency optical wave of FEL and causes an shiftup in the operating frequency, However it has little effect on the growth rate of the high-frequency wave. In the plasma–loaded FEL, for the FEL oscillator, it may be tuned by varying the plasma density; and for the FEL amplifier, the wider frequency bandwidth is gained. A critical density n ^c _p for the background plasma density is found.     

The Investigation of Thermal Plasma-Loaded Free-Electron Laser: Linear Analysis

The dispersion equation of thermal plasma-loaded FEL is derived employing linear fluid theory. The characteristic of this thermal plasma FEL is analyzed in detail. FEL growth rate varying with plasma density and plasma temperature is investigated. We find there is an optimum plasma temperature where FEL growth rate can be enhanced considerably. The FEL growth rate is decreased accompanying plasma density raising.     

High-gain free-electron-laser amplifier with warm plasmabackground: linear analysis

The linear free-electron laser (FEL) theory with plasma background is considered using the hybrid model in contrast with the fluid model to describe the FEL interaction with plasma proposed by Weng-Bing and Ya-Shen (1988) and Tripathi and Liu (1990). The basic dynamical equations for the FEL with warm plasma background are derived for all ranges of plasma and beam densities with unspecified wiggler period number and strength. The linear behavior of the FEL is analyzed     

Plasma effects in a free electron laser

The introduction of a plasma and a strong guide magnetic field in a free electron laser (FEL) slows down the phase velocity of radiation, significantly reducing the requirements on beam energy for generating frequencies below the electron-cyclotron frequency (ω₁≲ω_c). Around plasma resonance (ω₁~ω_p), the FEL mode couples to two-stream instability (TSI), attaining a large growth rate, comparable to that of the wiggler-free TSI. At plasma densities comparable to beam density, the beam-induced local depression in the electron density of the plasma acts as a waveguide for guiding any high-frequency radiation when the beam current is ≳17 kA     

Plasma-aided radiation guiding in a free-electron laser

The introduction of a plasma in a free-electron laser (FEL) helps radiation guiding via nonlinear refraction. At high-radiation power density, when oscillatory electron velocity is comparable to the electron thermal velocity, the radiation pushes plasma radially out, forming a depleted plasma duct and guiding the radiation. The radius of the self-trapped laser is ~c/ω_po, where ω_po is the unperturbed plasma frequency and c is the velocity of light in vacuum     

Analysis of the effects of plasmas and beam slippage in optical klystron FEL devices

We examine here the effects of plasmas and beam slippage on the gain of an optical klystron (OK) free electron laser (FEL) device under the influence of a weak guiding magnetic field and background plasma. The beam energy spread decreases with background plasma density nop and increases with beam plasma density nob. The maximum gain (Gmax) scales proportional to . The beam slippage phase Δψ scales directly to five power of relativistic factor γ₀ and one half power to nob.     

Effect of normalized plasma frequency on electron phase-space orbits in a free-electron laser

Irregular phase-space orbits of the electrons are harmful to the electron-beam transport quality and hence deteriorate the performance of a free-electron laser （FEL）. In previous literature, it was demonstrated that the irregularity of the electron phase-space orbits could be caused in several ways, such as varying the wiggler amplitude and inducing sidebands. Based on a Hamiltonian model with a set of self-consistent differential equations, it is shown in this paper that the electron- beam normalized plasma frequency functions not only couple the electron motion with the FEL wave, which results in the evolution of the FEL wave field and a possible power saturation at a large beam current, but also cause the irregularity of the electron phase-space orbits when the normalized plasma frequency has a sufficiently large value, even if the initial energy of the electron is equal to the synchronous energy or the FEL wave does not reach power saturation.     

Relativistic Self-Focusing of Short-Pulse Radiation Beams in Plasmas

An envelope equation is derived which describes the radial evolution of a radiation beam propagating through a plasma. The radiation envelope equation contains a defocusing term due to diffraction spreading and a focusing term due to relativistic oscillations of the plasma electrons. The case of a constant density background plasma is analyzed in detail and an expression for a critical laser power is derived. For powers exceeding the critical power, the radiation envelope oscillates and does not diffract. Under certain conditions the radiation beam propagates through the plasma with a constant radius envelope.     

高平均功率FEL的标度律

 讨论了设计高平均功率康普顿型自由电子激光（FEL）装置的基本思路与相关的标度律。强调了除电子束平均流强外，能量抽取率是装置实现高平均功率的决定性因素。这个量的标度律基本上由摇摆器参数（周期数）单独确定，与摇摆器周期长度和强度无关，与激光波长无关。指出如无能量回收系统，按目前光阴极电子枪+超导射频加速结构装置可预期的电子束团100 pC/bunch，平均电流为mA情况下，15MeV电子束能给出的激光平均输出功率为百瓦量级。     

Chaotic electron trajectories in electromagnetic wiggler free-electron laser with a guide magnetic field

Summary The Hamiltonian for an electron travelling through a large-amplitude backward electromagnetic wave, an axial guide magnetic field and radiation field is formulated. Poincaré surface-of-section plots show that this Hamiltonian is non-integrable, and leads to chaotic trajectories. Equilibrium conditions are derived in the limit where the radiation field approaches zero. Compared to conventional FEL, the total energy of the system at pondermotive resonanceE _c is large, while the electron's critical energy γ_c is low for electromagnetic wiggler FEL. Moreover, the threshold wave amplitude (A _r=A _c) of beam chaoticity is found at lower values of the radiation field amplitude compared to magnetostatic wiggler FEL. Previous features confirmed that electromagnetic wiggler FEL can operate more coherently and more efficiently at moderated particle's energy compared to magnetostatic wiggler FEL.     

Studies of classical radiation emission from plasma wave undulators

The authors examine the characteristics of the classical radiation emitted by a relativistic electron beam that propagates perpendicularly through a large amplitude relativistic plasma wave. Such a study is useful for evaluating the feasibility of using relativistic plasma waves as extremely short wavelength undulators for generating short wavelength radiation. The electron trajectories in a plasma wave undulator are obtained using perturbation techniques and are then compared to numerical simulation results. The frequency spectrum and angular distribution of the spontaneous radiation emitted by a single electron and the stimulated radiation gain are obtained analytically, and are then compared to 3-D numerical simulations. The characteristics of the plasma wave undulator are compared to the AC free-electron laser (FEL) undulator and the conventional FEL     

Statistical properties of the radiation from VUV-FEL at DESY (Femtosecond mode of operation)

Present bunch compression scheme at the VUV FEL at DESY is essentially nonlinear and naturally results in the formation of a short, high-current leading peak (spike) in the density distribution that produces FEL radiation. The main feature of the considered mode of operation is the production of short, down to 20 fs radiation pulses with GW-level peak power and contrast of 80%.     

Observation of a cw dark-field signal in an absorption spectroscopic experiment using a phase locked free-electron laser

We introduce a technique for ultrasensitive absorption spectroscopy using the GHz-rate pulse train from a phase-locked free-electron laser (FEL), in which the fractional power absorbed from one or more laser lines reappears as a signal on the dark background between the pulses emerging from the sample. Preliminary absorption experiments in 15 Torr cm of methane at 3.25 &mgr;m, using phase-locked pulses from the Mark III FEL, clearly reveal an interpulse beat signal due to absorption by adjacent molecular rotational lines which is generated only in the presence of interpulse phase coherence.     

Gain calculation of a free-electron laser operating with a non-uniform ion-channel guide

Amplification of an electromagnetic wave by a free electron laser (FEL) with a helical wiggler and an ion channel with a periodically varying ion density is examined. The relativistic equation of motion for a single electron in the combined wiggler and the periodic ion-channel fields is solved and the classes of possible trajectories in this configuration are discussed. The gain equation for the FEL in the low-gain-per-pass limit is obtained by adding the effect of the periodic ion channel. Numerical calculation is employed to analyse the gain induced by the effects of the non-uniform ion density. The variation of gain with ion-channel density is demonstrated. It is shown that there is a gain enhancement for group I orbits in the presence of a non-uniform ion-channel but not in a uniform one. It is also shown that periodic ion-channel guiding is used to reach the maximum peak gain in a low ion-channel frequency (low ion density).     

Simulation of laser–plasma interactions and fast-electron transport in inhomogeneous plasma

A new framework is introduced for kinetic simulation of laser–plasma interactions in an inhomogeneous plasma motivated by the goal of performing integrated kinetic simulations of fast-ignition laser fusion. The algorithm addresses the propagation and absorption of an intense electromagnetic wave in an ionized plasma leading to the generation and transport of an energetic electron component. The energetic electrons propagate farther into the plasma to much higher densities where Coulomb collisions become important. The high-density plasma supports an energetic electron current, return currents, self-consistent electric fields associated with maintaining quasi-neutrality, and self-consistent magnetic fields due to the currents. Collisions of the electrons and ions are calculated accurately to track the energetic electrons and model their interactions with the background plasma. Up to a density well above critical density, where the laser electromagnetic field is evanescent, Maxwell’s equations are solved with a conventional particle-based, finite-difference scheme. In the higher-density plasma, Maxwell’s equations are solved using an Ohm’s law neglecting the inertia of the background electrons with the option of omitting the displacement current in Ampere’s law. Particle equations of motion with binary collisions are solved for all electrons and ions throughout the system using weighted particles to resolve the density gradient efficiently. The algorithm is analyzed and demonstrated in simulation examples. The simulation scheme introduced here achieves significantly improved efficiencies.     

Radiation guiding in a plasma wave wiggler free-electron laser

The radiation guiding of a plasma wave wiggler free-electron laser (FEL) in the Compton regime was examined. It was found that a Langmuir wave supported by a plasma cylinder acts as a wiggler for the generation of high-frequency coherent radiation when an annular relativistic electron beam passes through it. The radiation mode in the Compton regime tends to be localized close to the radius of the beam. A normal-mode analysis of this process revealed that the growth rate of the instability increases as the square root of the beam current. The treatment presented is restricted to the case where the radial width of the FEL radiation mode is larger than the beam radius, but smaller than the waveguide radius     

Optical configurations for free electron laser resonators with theoretical and numerical simulation

Optical resonator plays a crucial role in the oscillator scheme of Free Electron Laser (FEL). In this paper, the challenges and some issues on the optical configurations for FEL resonators are presented. Firstly, the diffraction loss and power density are calculated during the preliminary parameters design. Then the detuning and alignment issues of the cavity are discussed with theoretical and numerical simulations. To minimize the influence of the harmonics components, the potential solution based on their spatial distributions is also provided.     

Instability of Two-stream Free-electron Laser with an Axial Guiding Magnetic Field

A model of two-stream Free-Electron Lasers (FEL) with an axial guiding magnetic field (AGMF) is proposed and investigated in this paper. The dispersion relation is derived employing linear fluid theory. The characteristics of dispersion relation are analyzed in detail by numerical solutions, which show that the growth rate can be considerably enhanced and the operation frequency is significantly broader with the suitable of AGMF, separation velocity and beams’ relative density factor, and the occurrences of two-stream instability in FEL are stronger due to the presence of AGMF.     

激光脉冲在等离子体中的压缩分裂

通过数值求解一维非线性薛定谔方程,研究了圆偏振入射激光脉冲在初始密度范围为1/4到略低于1倍临界密度的等离子体中的自压缩和分裂现象. 提高等离子体密度和入射激光强度以及减小脉冲宽度可以在更短的传输距离获得有效的激光脉冲压缩,压缩后的脉冲半高宽度可达到初始脉冲半高宽度的1/35,甚至更小. 这种压缩是激光脉冲在等离子体中形成高阶孤子的过程中产生的,可以获得比在稀薄等离子体中更好的压缩比例. 数值计算的结果给出了该情况下激光脉冲在等离子体中自压缩后形成的高阶孤子分裂. 利用一维粒子数值模拟程序(particle-in-cell,PIC)也观察到了脉冲的压缩和分裂现象,得到了与数值计算一致的结果. 关键词： 非线性薛定谔方程 自压缩 脉冲分裂 粒子模拟     

开放空间等离子体对微波传输影响的模拟研究

以氮气为背景气体,采用脉冲式微波产生等离子体,使用另外一束连续波作为传输模拟对象,并基于扩散效应的全域模型分析等离子体电子温度与电子密度的演化过程。实验中放电气压为300Pa,实验结果表明:在微波脉冲开始之后极短的时间内,连续波接受信号发生剧烈衰减;而在微波脉冲结束后,连续波接受信号则缓慢恢复。微波传输主要受到等离子体电子密度的影响,而全域模型的计算结果显示等离子体电子密度在开始放电时迅速上升,甚至高于放电微波频率对应的临界密度,在放电微波脉冲结束时电子密度则缓慢下降。这说明开放空间中等离子体在失去能量维持之后,由于扩散效应占主导作用,电子密度不会迅速下降,此时连续波依然会被阻碍,直到电子密度下降到连续波频率对应的临界密度以下。