A high gain free electron laser amplifier design for the Alcator-C tokamak

We describe an improved wiggler tapering algorithm and the resulting wiggler design for a high-gain free electron laser amplifier to be used for plasma heating and current drive experiments in the Alcator-C tokamak. Unlike the original, this new design limits the growth of the shot noise to insignificant levels. The design goal of at least 8 GW of peak power in the TE/sub 01/ mode was achieved with a 3 kA electron beam with energies in the 7 to 9 MeV range and a beam brightness of 105 A/(rad-cm)2. The wiggler was 5 m long with a wiggler wavelength of 8 cm