Analytical Description of Electron Motion in a Three-Dimensional Undulator Field

Abstract

The motion of relativistic electrons in an ideal three-dimensional magnetic undulator field satisfying the stationary Maxwell equation is considered. The system of nonlinear differential equations of the electron motion is solved analytically using perturbation theory rather than the method for averaging fast oscillations of the electron trajectory (the focusing approximation), as was done in a series of previous studies. The obtained analytical expressions for the trajectories describe the behavior of particles in a three-dimensional magnetic undulator field much more accurately than the formulas obtained within the framework of the focusing approximation. The analysis of these expressions shows that the behavior of electrons in a three-dimensional undulator field is much more complicated than that described by equations obtained using the averaging method. In particular, it turns out that the electron trajectories in the undulator have a cross dependence; in this case, variations in the initial trajectory parameters in the vertical plane cause changes in the horizontal trajectory components, and vice versa. The results of calculations of the trajectories carried out using analytical expressions are close to those of numerical calculations using the Runge-Kutta method.