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Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 10, 080702 (2007) [8 pages]

Electron beam requirements for a three-dimensional Smith-Purcell backward-wave oscillator for intense terahertz radiation

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Kwang-Je Kim1 and Vinit Kumar2
1Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
2Raja Ramanna Center for Advanced Technology, Indore, India

Received 7 June 2006; published 22 August 2007

A Smith-Purcell device can operate as a backward-wave oscillator for intense, narrow-bandwidth, continuous wave radiation at terahertz wavelengths. We determine the requirements on electron beam current and emittance for the system to oscillate based on a three-dimensional extension of our previous two-dimensional analysis. It is found that specially designed electron beams are required with a current that exceeds a certain threshold value and a flat transverse profile that allows the beam to travel very close to the grating surface. Two methods for producing electron beams with the required characteristics are discussed.

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© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.10.080702
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.10.080702
PACS:
52.59.−f, 41.60.Cr, 41.20.−q, 41.85.Ew