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Title: Nonlinear model for thermal effects in free-electron lasers

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4901241· OSTI ID:22403285
; ;  [1]
  1. Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 15051, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil)

In the present work, we extend results of a previous paper [Peter et al., Phys. Plasmas 20, 12 3104 (2013)] and develop a semi-analytical model to account for thermal effects on the nonlinear dynamics of the electron beam in free-electron lasers. We relax the condition of a cold electron beam but still use the concept of compressibility, now associated with a warm beam model, to evaluate the time scale for saturation and the peak laser intensity in high-gain regimes. Although vanishing compressibilites and the associated divergent densities are absent in warm models, a series of discontinuities in the electron density precede the saturation process. We show that full wave-particle simulations agree well with the predictions of the model.

OSTI ID:
22403285
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English