Quantum theory of the free-electron laser
A fully quantum-mechanical theory of the free-electron laser (FEL) is presented. The theory is developed in the laboratory frame (in contrast with most previous quantum treatments), starting from Quantum Electrodynamics, yet the final result is formally simple. The theory is applied to the study of the start-up and the growth of coherence, the quantum corrections to the gain and saturation, and the photon statistics. To study the start-up problem, a multimode theory is used; equations are derived giving the change in the first-order correlation function for the radiation field after one pass through the cavity in the linear regime, which show how a coherent field evolves from spontaneous emission. The theory is one-dimensional: diffraction and other three-dimensional effects are therefore ignored. As regards the photon statistics, it is shown that, to a very good approximation, the intensity fluctuations of the FEL radiation are those characteristic of thermal (or chaotic) light, in the linear regime, that is, until saturation becomes important. It is also shown that perturbation theory is not appropriate to the study of the photon statistics at saturation.
- Research Organization:
- New Mexico Univ., Albuquerque (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6121142
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
X-RAY NONLINEAR OPTICAL PROCESSES IN ATOMS USING A SELF-AMPLIFIED SPONTANEOUS EMISSION FREE-ELECTRON LASER
Overcoming the diffraction limit by multi-photon interference: a tutorial