U.S. Particle Accelerator School
U.S. Particle Accelerator School
America's National School of Accelerator Science and Technology

Physics of High-Gain Free Electron Lasers course

Sponsoring University:

SUNY Stony Brook

Course:

Physics of High-Gain Free Electron Lasers

Instructors:

Kwang-Je Kim and Zhirong Huang, Argonne National Lab

This course will introduce the physics of high-gain free electron lasers (FELs). The course will begin with a review on synchrotron and undulator radiation. The FEL equations that govern the beam-radiation interaction will be derived, and both the low-gain and the high-gain regimes will be discussed. High-gain FELs will then be treated in one-dimensional approximation, with the emphasis on the exponential growth and the saturation. The self-consistent Maxwell-Vlasov equations will be used for the three-dimensional treatment, including the roles of diffraction and guiding, as well as the effects of electron beam quality. Self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) will be analyzed, using the examples from the existing and the proposed SASE experiments. Finally, harmonic generation and other research topics will be covered near the end of the lectures. Prerequisites: Classical Mechanics and Electromagnetism.