Free electron laser employing an expanded hollow intense electron beam and periodic radial magnetic field

Patent · Fri Nov 09 04:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:5580983

Schlesinger, S P

The generation of very high power pulses of coherent electromagnetic radiation that are continuously tunable in frequency is accomplished by means of a free electron laser in which a hollow relativistic electron beam is projected along the longitudinal axis of an evacuated drift tube. A first magnetic field expands the electron beam into an annular peripheral interaction region of the drift tube where the beam interacts with a second periodic radial magnetic field. Frequency is varied by changing the electron velocity of the electron beam or by changing the periodicity of the radial magnetic field. The device can be made to operate as an oscillator by the inclusion of resonant cavity defining mirrors within the interaction region, or as an amplifier by injecting a coherent radiation signal into the interaction region. Both oscillator and amplifier functions can be incorporated into a single device. Linewidth is narrowed by utilizing a Smith-Fox interferometer to couple the generated coherent radiation into an output light pipe.

• Research Organization: Department of the Air Force, Washington, DC (USA)
• Assignee: EDB-82-078719; ERA-07-032271
• Patent Number(s): None
• OSTI ID: 5580983
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
AMPLIFIERS
BEAMS
CAVITY RESONATORS
COHERENT RADIATION
DRIFT TUBES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON BEAMS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FIELD THEORIES
FREE ELECTRON LASERS
FUNCTION GENERATORS
FUNCTIONS
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
INTERACTIONS
LASERS
LEPTON BEAMS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MIRRORS
OPERATION
OSCILLATORS
PARTICLE BEAMS
PULSE GENERATORS
PULSES
RADIATIONS
RELATIVITY THEORY
RESONATORS
SIGNALS