Radiation from multi-GeV electrons and positrons in periodically bent silicon crystal

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that periodically bent silicon crystals can produce highly monochromatic gamma-ray radiation from multi-GeV electrons and positrons, with narrow spectral peaks due to undulator effects, supported by atomistic simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to generate gamma-ray radiation using periodically bent silicon crystals and provides detailed atomistic simulations of the channeling process and radiation characteristics.

Findings

Narrow undulator-type spectral peaks observed in gamma-ray range

Quantum recoil effects significantly influence the radiation spectrum

Simulations confirm the efficiency of bent crystals for gamma-ray production

Abstract

A periodically bent Si crystal is shown to efficiently serve for producing highly monochromatic radiation in a gamma-ray energy spectral range. A short-period small-amplitude bending yields narrow undulator-type spectral peaks in radiation from multi-GeV electrons and positrons channeling through the crystal. Benchmark theoretical results on the undulator are obtained by simulations of the channeling with a full atomistic approach to the projectile-crystal interactions over the macroscopic propagation distances. The simulations are facilitated by employing the MBN Explorer package for molecular dynamics calculations on the meso- bio- and nano-scales. The radiation from the ultra-relativistic channeling projectiles is computed within the quasi-classical formalism. The effects due to the quantum recoil are shown to be significantly prominent in the gamma-ray undulator radiation.