The Free Electron Laser Sideband Instability Reconsidered,

Abstract

The one-dimensional fast time averaged Hamiltonian is derived in a free electron laser (FEL) for electrons passing through a constant wiggler and a radiation field. The exact unperturbed orbits without sidebands are obtained for all particles and arbitrary separatrix width delta sub gamma. Integration in action-angle variables of the linearized Vlasov equation with perturbing sidebands over the unperturbed orbits yields the sideband gain for both trapped and untrapped particles. The unperturbed distribution f sub 0 is in an adiabatic equilibrium with the main signal field. It is found that upper and lower sidebands that are symmetric relative to the FEL frequency have opposite growth rates. There is no differentiation in the magnitude of the gain between upper and lower sidebands. The stability is determined by the sign of df sub 0/d omega sub b, i.e., the relative population of oscillation quanta h-bar omega sub b, omega sub b = bounce frequency around resonance. The shear d omega sub b/dJ, where J is the action variable, is stabilizing and distributions with gradients df sub 0/dJ localized near the separatrix have the minimum growth rates. The structures and scaling of the unstable spectrum are different from previous results obtained for electrons localized at the bottom of the ponderomotive well.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADA182153

Entities

People

  • Chai AMei Tang
  • S. Riyopoulos

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Amplitude
  • Coherent Radiation
  • Distribution Functions
  • Electrons
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Free Electron Lasers
  • Free Electrons
  • Frequency
  • Gain
  • Gaussian Distributions
  • Generators
  • Harmonics
  • Instability
  • Oscillation
  • Radiation
  • Sidebands

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Directed Energy - Lasers
  • Microelectronics
  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris