Electromagnetic Wiggler Research Articles

Recent progress of THz source at the SXFEL

Coherent, wide-tunable frequency and high intensity terahertz (THz) source is under preparation at the Shanghai Soft X-ray free-electron laser facility (SXFEL). The electron bunches modulated by frequency beating light can generate coherent, wide-tunable, high intensity THz radiation from 0.1 to 30 THz through wigglers. The electromagnetic wiggler with peak magnetic field up to 1.75 T is adopted and the parameters of the wiggler are optimized to ensure the generation of strong field THz radiation. Due to the limitation of layout space of the SXFEL, the length of wiggler is limited within 5 meters. By properly increasing the charge of the electron beam, the THz pulse energy can be kept at sub mJ level under the proposed different parameters of the wiggler. In this article, we will present the possible layout of THz source on the SXFEL and the S2E simulation of THz radiation of sub mJ magnitude within the 5-meter wiggler.

Gyrotrons as High-Frequency Drivers for Undulators and High-Gradient Accelerators

Gyrotrons are used as high-power sources of coherent radiation operating in pulsed and CW regimes in many scientific and technological fields. In this paper, we discuss two of their numerous applications. The first one is in gyrotron-powered electromagnetic wigglers and undulators. The second one is for driving high-gradient accelerating structures in compact particle accelerators. The comparison, between the requirements imposed by these two concepts on the radiation sources on one hand and the output parameters of the currently available high-performance gyrotrons on the other hand, show that they match each other to a high degree. We consider this as a manifestation of the feasibility and potential of these concepts. It is believed that after the first successful proof-of-principle experiments they will find more wide usage in the advanced FEL and particle accelerators.

Study of gain and trajectories in elliptical electron beam considering a planar wiggler and self fields and ion-channel in free electron laser

In this study, the relativistic electron beam with an elliptical cross-section is introduced instead of the relativistic electron beam with a circular cross-section in free-electron laser (FEL). Influences of ion-channel guiding, axial magnetic field, Planar Wiggler Magnetic Field (PWMF) and self-fields on trajectories of the elliptical relativistic electron beam have also been investigated. At first, it was assumed that the PWMF is applied along the minor axis of the beam cross-section ellipse. In the second case, the PWMF was applied along the major axis of beam cross-section ellipse, the results of which were compared for the two cases. Effects of elliptical cross-section demotions and elliptical electron beam density on electron trajectory have been studied. The results were compared in the limit that the elliptical electron beam is converted to a circular electron beam, which has also been graphically presented. Moreover, a limit case in which the elliptical beam is converted into a sheet beam was studied. Furthermore, a formula was obtained for the small signal gain in a FEL with elliptical electron beam. The obtained gain for a FEL, together with a relativistic electron beam with an elliptical cross section was compared to the maximum gain for a FEL together with a relativistic electron beam with a circular cross section. It is shown that increasing the ratio of the semi-major to semi-minor axes of the beam cross-section causes the gain rate of the FEL to increases. We investigated a study of electron trajectories and dispersion equation in relativistic electron beam with elliptical cross section under the influence of electromagnetic wave wiggler and axial magnetic field considering ion-channel guiding and self fields in Appendix A.

Coherent Emission in Pulsars, Magnetars, and Fast Radio Bursts: Reconnection-driven Free Electron Laser

Abstract We develop a model of the generation of coherent radio emission in the Crab pulsar, magnetars, and fast radio bursts (FRBs). Emission is produced by a reconnection-generated beam of particles via a variant of the free electron laser mechanism, operating in a weakly turbulent, guide field-dominated plasma. We first consider nonlinear Thomson scattering in a guide field-dominated regime, and apply it to explain emission bands observed in Crab pulsar and in FRBs. We consider particle motion in a combined field of the electromagnetic wave and the electromagnetic (Alfvénic) wiggler. Charge bunches, created via a ponderomotive force, Compton/Raman scatter the wiggler field coherently. The model is both robust to the underlying plasma parameters and succeeds in reproducing a number of subtle observed features: (i) emission frequencies depend mostly on the scale λ t of turbulent fluctuations and the Lorentz factor of the reconnection-generated beam, ω ∼ γ b 2 ( c / λ t ) —it is independent of the absolute value of the underlying magnetic field. (ii) The model explains both broadband emission and the presence of emission stripes, including multiple stripes observed in the high frequency interpulse of the Crab pulsar. (iii) The model reproduces correlated polarization properties: the presence of narrow emission bands in the spectrum favors linear polarization, while broadband emission can have an arbitrary polarization. (iv) The mechanism is robust to the momentum spread of the particle in the beam. We also discuss a model of wigglers as nonlinear force-free Alfvén solitons (light darts).

A high-power, high-repetition-rate THz source for pump-probe experiments at Linac Coherent Light Source II.

Experiments using a THz pump and an X-ray probe at an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) facility like the Linac Coherent Light Source II (LCLS II) require frequency-tunable (3 to 20 THz), narrow bandwidth (∼10%), carrier-envelope-phase-stable THz pulses that produce high fields (>1 MV cm-1) at the repetition rate of the X-rays and are well synchronized with them. In this paper, a two-bunch scheme to generate THz radiation at LCLS II is studied: the first bunch produces THz radiation in an electromagnet wiggler immediately following the LCLS II undulator that produces X-rays from the second bunch. The initial time delay between the two bunches is optimized to compensate for the path difference in THz transport. The two-bunch beam dynamics, the THz wiggler and radiation are described, as well as the transport system bringing the THz pulses from the wiggler to the experimental hall.

Beat frequency undulator radiation and harmonic generation

The spectrum of undulator radiation of a relativistic electron beam in a beat frequency undulator is analytically investigated and analyzed. The field configuration consists of two circularly polarized electromagnetic wave wigglers propagating collinearly in the opposite direction to the traveling relativistic electron beam. The electron motion consists of oscillations at the two wiggler frequencies and the beat frequency of the two wiggler frequencies. As a consequence there is higher harmonic emission on-axis which is absent in the case of a single-frequency circularly polarized electromagnetic wave wiggler or magnetostatic helical wiggler scheme.

Effects of electromagnetic wiggler and ion channel guiding on equilibrium orbits and waves propagation in a free electron laser

In this paper, an analysis of equilibrium orbits for electrons by a simultaneous solution of the equation of motion and the dispersion relation for electromagnetic wave wiggler in a free-electron laser (FEL) with ion-channel guiding has been presented. A fluid model has been used to investigate interactions among all possible waves. The dispersion relation has been derived for electrostatic and electromagnetic waves with all relativistic effects included. This dispersion relation has been solved numerically. For group I and II orbits, when the transverse velocity is small, only the FEL instability is found. In group I and II orbits with relatively large transverse velocity, new couplings between other modes are found.

Klaus Halbach, Undulator Pioneer

I am indebted to Karl Brown for suggesting that I invite Klaus, who I did not know at the time, to a workshop on wiggler magnets in March 1977. I recall Karl saying to me something like, “Herman, if you want someone who knows about magnets, you should invite Klaus Halbach.” Klaus came and even made a contribution about some aspects of the design of electromagnet wigglers, the only type of wigglers that had been considered to that time. However, it was at that workshop that Klaus got his introduction to synchrotron radiation, mostly by listening to talks by Albert Hofmann and Andy Sesler, who explained the marvelous properties of undulator magnets as radiation sources. Klaus filed this information in his long-term memory banks while working on other topics, particularly the design of permanent magnet quadrupoles for proton linacs.

Low-frequency wiggler modes in the free-electron laser with a dusty magnetoplasma medium

An advanced incremental scheme for generating tunable coherent radiation in a free-electron laser has been presented: the basic concept is the use of a relativistic electron beam propagating through a magnetized dusty plasma channel where dust helicon, dust Alfven and coupled dust cyclotron-Alfven waves can play a role as a low-frequency wiggler, triggering coherent emissions. The wiggler wavelength at the sub-mm level allows one to reach the wavelength range from a few nm down to a few Å with moderately relativistic electrons of kinetic energies of a few tens/hundreds of MeV. The laser gain and the effects of beam self-electric and self-magnetic fields on the gain have been estimated and compared with findings of the helical magnetic and electromagnetic wigglers in vacuum. To study the chaotic regions of the electron motion in the dusty plasma wave wiggler, a time independent Hamiltonian has been obtained. The Poincare surface of a section map has been used numerically to analyze the nonintegrable system where chaotic regions in phase-space emerge. This concept opens a path toward a new generation of synchrotron sources based on compact plasma structures.

A nonlinear plasma retroreflector for single pulse Compton backscattering

Compton scattered x-rays can be generated using a configuration consisting of a single ultrashort laser pulse and a shaped gas target. Upon ionization the gas target serves as a plasma mirror that reflects the incident pulse providing a counter-propagating electromagnetic wiggler. While plasma mirrors are often conceived as linear Fresnel reflectors, we demonstrate that for high-intensity, ultrashort laser pulses the reflection results from two distinct nonlinear mechanisms. At lower densities, the reflection arises from the emission of an electromagnetic pulse during the saturation of the absolute Raman instability at the quarter critical surface. At higher densities the reflection of the pulse from the critical surface sets up a density fluctuation that acts as a Bragg-like reflector. These mechanisms, occurring in a non-perturbative regime of laser–plasma interactions, are examined numerically in order to characterize the Compton scattered radiation.

THz wiggler applied for measurements of electron bunch longitudinal structure in FEL

The infrared undulator manufactured at JINR and installed at FLASH in 2007 is used for longitudinal bunch shape measurements in the range of several tenths of a micrometer. The presented electromagnetic wiggler is intended for generating a narrow-band THz radiation to measure the longitudinal electron bunch structure in FELs with an electron energy of several tens of MeV. This is a planar electromagnetic device with six regular periods, each 30 cm long. The K parameter is varied in the range 0.5–7.12 corresponding to the range B = 0.025–0.356 T of the peak field on the axis. The wiggler is simulated for 19.8 MeV/c corresponding to the possible FEL option at PITZ. The wavelength range is 126 μm − 5.1 mm for this electron beam momentum. The 3D Opera simulations of the THz wiggler are discussed. A new PITZ photocathode laser system is proposed for the optimized performance of the high-brightness electron beam. The main goal is a production of 3D ellipsoidal electron bunches with homogeneous charge density. The electromagnetic wiggler is supposed to be used for measuring the longitudinal shape of these electron bunches.

Electron trajectories and growth rates of the plasma wave pumped free-electron laser

A theory for a plasma wave wiggler has been described which employs the plasma whistler wave for producing laser radiation in a free-electron laser (FEL). While electromagnetically pumped FELs have been proven to be an effective means generating short wavelengths, practical difficulties occur in the design of these wigglers. For this reason, it is found that a plasma wave wiggler can be employed in concept with an electromagnetic wave wiggler due to both higher tunability and holding the focus of pump wave and e-beam over a significant distance to achieve a suitable amplification. Plasma in the presence of static magnetic field supports a plasma whistler wave. The plasma wiggler period can be tuned by varying the plasma density and/or ambient magnetic field. Electron trajectories have been analyzed using single particle dynamics and regimes of orbital stability have been demonstrated. A polynomial dispersion relation for electromagnetic and space-charge waves has then been derived, analytically. Numerical studies of the dispersion relation reveal that the growth rates are sensitive functions of the cyclotron frequency. It has been shown that by increasing the axial magnetic field strength (or cyclotron frequency), the growth rate for groups I and III orbits increases, while a growth decrement has been obtained for groups II and IV orbits.

Effects of misaligned electron beam on inverse free electron laser acceleration

Abstract In this paper, we discuss the effects of misaligned electron beam on an inverse free electron laser with both an electromagnetic wave wiggler and magnetostatic wiggler acceleration scheme. It is shown analytically that electromagnetic wiggler IFEL energy gain distance is substantially smaller when compared to the standard IFEL i.e. with a magnetostatic wiggler. The analysis further explains a better tolerance of the electromagnetic wiggler IFEL with respect to the misaligned electron beam in comparison to a magnetostatic wiggler IFEL scheme.

Two-stream whistler-pumped free-electron laser

The theory for the two-stream free-electron laser with the whistler wave as a slow electromagnetic wave wiggler is studied theoretically. The results show that for small values of plasma density, there are seven groups of orbits and the plasma density enhancement leads to increase in the number of trajectories. Also, increasing the plasma density causes growth in the axial velocity for groups (1–4) of orbits and a reduction for groups (6–7). It is shown that for groups (6–7), the effect of plasma is to increase the gain, and for groups (1–4) the effect of plasma is to decrease the gain. For group (1) the effect of plasma is to decrease the maximum frequency and for group (3) it is to increase the maximum frequency.

Effects of self-fields on dispersion relation and growth rate in two-stream electromagnetically pumped free electron laser with axial guide magnetic field

A theory for a two-stream free-electron laser (FEL) with an electromagnetic wiggler (EMW) and axial guide magnetic field is developed. In the analysis, the effects of self-fields are taken into account. The growth rate is derived. The characteristics of the growth rate are studied numerically. The dependence of the normalized wave number, which corresponds to the maximum growth rate, on the cyclotron frequency is presented. The comparisons between the normalized maximum growth rate and its corresponding wave number normalized by employing the axial magnetic field, for the cases with and without self-fields in the two-stream FEL are studied numerically.

An electromagnetic gamma-ray free electron laser

AbstractWe present a theoretical model for the generation of coherent gamma rays by a free electron laser, where a high-energy electron beam interacts with an electromagnetic wiggler. By replacing the static undulator with a 1-μm laser wiggler, the resulting radiation would go from X-rays currently observed in experiments, to gamma rays. Coherent light in the gamma-ray range would have wide-ranging applications in the probing of matter on sub-atomic scales.

Investigation of the electron trajectories and gain regimes of the whistler pumped free-electron laser

A free-electron laser (FEL) scheme, which employs the whistler wave as a slow electromagnetic wave wiggler, was studied theoretically. Subjected to the transverse fields of whistler wave wiggler, the beam electrons are the source of the energy needed to produce electromagnetic radiation. The strength and the period of the wiggler field depend on the parameters of the magnetoplasma medium. This configuration has a higher tunability by controlling the plasma density, on top of the γ-tunability of the conventional FELs. The theory of linear gain and electron trajectories was presented and four groups (I, II, III, and IV) of electron orbits were found in the presence of an axial guide magnetic field. Using perturbation analysis, it is found that these groups of orbits were stable except small regions of group I and IV orbits. The function Φ which determines the rate of change of axial velocity with beam energy was also derived. In the case in which Φ<0 represents a negative-mass regime in which the axial velocity accelerates as the electrons lose energy. Numerical solutions showed that by increasing the cyclotron frequency, the gain for group I and III orbits increased, while a gain decrement was obtained for group II and IV orbits.

Relativistic x-ray free-electron lasers in the quantum regime

We present a nonlinear theory for relativistic x-ray free-electron lasers in the quantum regime, using a collective Klein-Gordon (KG) equation (for relativistic electrons), which is coupled with the Maxwell-Poisson equations for the electromagnetic and electrostatic fields. In our model, an intense electromagnetic wave is used as a wiggler which interacts with a relativistic electron beam to produce coherent tunable radiation. The KG-Maxwell-Poisson model is used to derive a general nonlinear dispersion relation for parametric instabilities in three space dimensions, including an arbitrarily large amplitude electromagnetic wiggler field. The nonlinear dispersion relation reveals the importance of quantum recoil effects and oblique scattering of the radiation that can be tuned by varying the beam energy.

Effects of self-fields on electron trajectory and gain in two-stream electromagnetically pumped free-electron laser with ion channel guiding

A theory for the two-stream free-electron laser with an electromagnetic wiggler (EMW) and an ion channel guiding is developed. In the analysis, the effects of self-fields have been taken into account. The electron trajectories and the small signal gain are derived. The stability of the trajectories, the characteristics of the linear gain and the normalized maximum gain are studied numerically. The dependence of the normalized frequency ω̂ corresponding to the maximum gain on the ion-channel frequency is presented. The results show that there are seven groups of orbits in the presence of the self-fields, which are similar to those reported in the absence of the self-fields. It is also shown that the normalized gains of 2 groups decrease while the rest increase with the increasing normalized ion-channel frequency. Furthermore, it is found that the two-stream instability and the self-field lead to a decrease in the maximum gain except for group 4.

Comparison of self-fields effects in two-stream electromagnetically pumped FEL with ion-channel guiding and axial magnetic field

AbstractA theory of two-stream free-electron laser in a combined electromagnetic wiggler and an ion-channel guiding is developed. In the analysis, the electron trajectories and the small signal gain are derived by considering the effects of self-fields. Numerical calculations show that there are seven group's trajectories rather than nine groups reported in Mehdian and Saviz (2010 Chin. Phys. B 19(1), 014214). The comparison of the normalized gains and their corresponding normalized frequencies by employing the axial magnetic field and ion-channel guiding, with and without self-fields, in FEL has been studied numerically. The results show that the normalized maximum gain in FEL with axial magnetic is larger than that for using ion-channel guiding except in small region, but the results for their corresponding normalized frequencies are opposite.