Development of volume free-electron lasers

The discovery by the INP BSU staff of a new law of unstability of relativistic beams of electrons in spatially periodic media and proposal of a new class of electromagnetic radiation sources - volume free-electron lasers (VFEL) lead to emerging of a new area of nuclear physics, which has a great practical value. In 2001 an experimental device of VFEL was created for the first time in the world.

2001 image

Images from 2001 and 2003

Sources of electromagnetic radiation in microwave range can be developed based on VFEL. They may be neccessary in particular for creation of new generation accelerators of elementary particles and gamma-gamma colliders, new generation of superdistant radars, systems for transfer of electromagnetic energy to long distances, systems for heating of thermonuclear plasma, highly stable transmitters for communication systems in microwave range, new generation tomographers (for use in medicine).

The radiation in FEL is generated through various mechanisms of spontaneous radiation: magnetic bremsstrahlung radiaition in ondulator, Smith-–Parcell radiation and Cherenkov radiation, or radiation in laser wave. Independently on which spontaneous radiation is used in a specific FEL, all devices of that type use a feedback either from two parallel mirrors placed on the borders of the working volume or 1D diffraction grating, in which the emitted and diffracted (reflected) waves propagate along the electron beam (1D distributed feedback).

Advantages of volume FEL:

1. Volume FEL is able to change the frequency of radiation by rotating of the grating;
2. More effective interaction of electromagnetic wave with electron beam caused by a new law of instability, leads to dramatic reduction of current density of electron beam, which is neccessary to achieve the generation threshold and reduce the sizes of the region of generation;
3. Broad electron beams and large volume diffraction gratings are used on VFEL hence the power of radiation can be achieved with several orders of mangitude higher because of the absence of electric breakdown. 
4. VFEL can generate the radiation with multiple frequencies simultaneously.

A distinctive feature of VFEL is the use of 1D, 2D and 3D diffraction gratings as volume resonators. They provide volume distributed feedback and, as a consequence, an option of fine tuning of frequency in broad range of frequencies, high power radiation and generation of radiation with multiple frequencies simultaneously.

2D or 3D diffraction gratings lead to distribution of interaction over a vast volume and reduce the limitations on the power in the resonator.

"Grid" resonators ( V.G.Baryshevsky et al. Proc. IRMMW-THz 2010; Proc FEL2010 ):

Foil resonators ( V.G.Baryshevsky et al. Proc. IRMMW-THz 2010; Proc FEL2010 ):

The results of the first experiments on generation using VFEL were presented at the conference FEL2001:

Scientific leader — Prof. V.G. Baryshevsky 

Literature


V.G.Baryshevsky, I.D.Feranchuk, Phys.Lett. 102A (1984) 141-144. DOI: 10.1016/0375-9601(84)90799-0
V.G.Baryshevsky, Doklady Akademii Nauk USSR 299 (1988) P. 1363 (in Russian)
V.G.Baryshevsky, K.G.Batrakov, I.Ya. Dubovskaya, Journ.Phys D24 (1991) 1250-1257. DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/24/8/005
V.G.Baryshevsky, NIM A 445 (2000) 281-283 DOI: 10.1016/S0168-9002(00)00127-3
Belarus Patent no. 20010235 (09.10.2001) 
Russian Patent no. 2001126186/20 (04.10.2001) 
Eurasian Patent no. 004665 (25.09.2001) 
V.G.Baryshevsky et al., NIM A 483 (2002) 21-23. DOI: 10.1016/S0168-9002(02)00279-6
V.G.Baryshevsky et al., NIM A 507 (2003) 137-140. DOI: 10.1016/S0168-9002(03)00857-X
V. Baryshevsky, A. Gurinovich. LANL e-print arXiv: physics/0409107
V. Baryshevsky et al. LANL e-print arXiv: physics/0409125 
V.G. Baryshevsky et al. NIM B 252 (2006), 86-91. DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2006.07.029
V.G.Baryshevsky arXiv:1101.0783v1 [physics.acc-ph] 4 Jan 2011 
V.G.Baryshevsky, A.A.Gurinovich Electrodynamical properties of a volume free electron laser with a "grid" resonator Proc. FEL 2006, Berlin, Germany, 335-338.
V.G.Baryshevsky et al. Experimental study of volume free electron laser using a "grid" photonic crystal with variable period Proc. FEL 2007, Novosibirsk, Russia. 496-498.
V.G.Baryshevsky et al. Experimental study of volume FELS with a photonic crystal made of foils Proc. FEL2010, Malmö, Sweden, 632-635.