Study of the Smith-Purcell effect in the relativistic regime

We propose to investigate the spontaneous emission of radiation arising out of the interaction of a relativistic electron beam with a metallic grating (the Smith-Purcell effect). The work will concentrate, primarily, in the 50-120 μm part of the infrared spectrum and will be an extension of the work begun by the Oxford-Dartmouth-Essex collaboration; one of the early objectives of the project will be to develop a quantitative understanding of the power spectrum of the emitted radiation over a wide range of emission angles. In particular, the limits of relativistic peaking of forward directed emission will be investigated. The electron beam will be produced by laser irradiation of a metallic cathode in the terminal of a small Van de Graff accelerator located in the Technische Universitaet, Muenchen. Beam energies will be in the range of 2 - 4 MeV. Initial tests on photoproduction of electrons have yielded 10 mA pulses with a width of about 20 ns. The electron pulse length is long enough to not only produce easily observed levels of spontaneous emission, but in principle gain due to stimulated emission should also be observable. Observation of gain is a second goal of the project. The manufacture of the grating chamber and the voltage tests on the accelerator will progress in parallel. This is a 3-year project and is supported, in part, by the British-German Academic Research Collaboration (ARC) program