X-ray generation in an ion channel

X-ray generation by relativistic electrons in an ion channel is studied. The emission process is analyzed in the regime of high harmonic generation when the plasma wiggler strength is large. Like for the conventional free electron laser, the synchrotron-like broadband spectrum is generated in this regime. An asymptotic expression for the radiation spectrum of the spontaneous emission is derived. The radiation spectrum emitted from an axisymmetric monoenergetic electron beam is analyzed. The stimulated emission in the ion channel is studied and the gain of the ion-channel synchrotron-radiation laser is calculated. It is shown that the use of laser-produced ion channels leads to a much higher power of x-ray radiation than the one in a self-generated channel. In addition, the mean photon energy, the number of emitted photons and the brilliance of the photon beam increase dramatically. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of a 25-GeV electron bunch propagating in a laser-produced ion channel are made. Several GeV gamma-quants are produced in a good agreement with the analytical results. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.