Gamma-ray free-electron lasers: Quantum fluid model

TL;DR

This paper models gamma-ray free-electron lasers using a quantum fluid approach, revealing potential for ultra-high power gamma-ray pulses near the Schwinger limit through numerical solutions of coupled nonlinear equations.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum fluid model for gamma-ray FELs that accounts for beam space-charge and photon recoil effects, providing new insights into high-power gamma-ray emission mechanisms.

Findings

Ultra-high power gamma-ray pulses can be generated near the Schwinger limit.

The emission characteristics depend on FEL parameters like detuning and initial phase.

Numerical solutions show plasma wave-breaking leads to intense gamma-ray radiation.

Abstract

A quantum fluid model is used to describe the interacion of a nondegenerate cold relativistic electron beam with an intense optical wiggler taking into account the beam space-charge potential and photon recoil effect. A nonlinear set of coupled equations are obtained and solved numerically. The numerical results shows that in the limit of plasma wave-breaking an ultra-high power radiation pulse are emitted at the$\gamma$-ray wavelength range which can reach an output intensity near the Schwinger limit depending of the values of the FEL parameters such as detuning and input signal initial phase at the entrance of the interaction region.