Observation of coherent undulator radiation in THz region

Abstract

The generation of coherent THz radiation from femtosecond electron bunches passing through an undulator was demonstrated with a test accelerator as a coherent terahertz source (t-ACTS) at Tohoku University. The velocity bunching scheme in the traveling wave accelerating structure was employed to generate electron bunches much shorter than the THz wavelength. The electron bunch length was measured with the spectrum analysis method for coherent transition radiation. A 2.5-m long undulator with 25 periods and peak magnetic field of 0.41 T was utilized to generate the tunable coherent undulator radiation ranging from 2.6 to 3.6 THz at the t-ACTS. The measured frequency spectrum and spatial distribution of the coherent undulator radiation are presented.