U.S. Particle Accelerator School
Radiation from Relativistic Electrons and Free-Electron Lasers course
Sponsoring University:
UCLA
Course:
Radiation from Relativistic Electrons and Free-Electron Lasers
Instructors:
Claudio Pellegrini and Alex Murokh, UCLA
This course will initially describe the properties of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by one relativistic electron propagating in a magnetic field or crossing a boundary between two regions with different indices of refraction. Examples of cases that will be discussed are: synchrotron radiation from electrons moving on circular trajectory, undulator radiation and optical transition radiation. We will then discuss the case of radiation emitted by many electrons, and the conditions to obtain coherent radiation. In the last part we will consider the free-electron laser collective instability, and discuss how it can lead to the production of very intense, coherent, femtosecond long, and pulses of X-rays. Included in this part is a review of the applications of an X-ray free-electron laser to physics, chemistry and biology. Prerequisites: Accelerator Physics.