2010/10/08 by G. Dattoli, Dattoli, G., M. Del Franco +7
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph) #Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques #FOS: Physical sciences #Laser Design and Applications #Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron Lasers
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1010.1647
openalex publication_date 2010/10/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This report is a primer introduction on the sources of coherent syncrotron radiation from FELs compared to conventional lasers. Even though the underlying mechanisms are different, FELs can be considered a laser source to all effects. In fact FEL is based on the stimulated emission of virtual photons by a relativistic electron beam, passing through an undulator/wiggler, much like conventional lasers exploit the stimulated emission by an atomic/molecular system on which a population inversion has been realized. FEL operation is illustrated by means of the usual set of parameters (gain, saturation intensity...) used to describe the functioning of conventional lasers.