Coherent synchrotron radiation in the far infrared from a 1-mm electron bunch

The coherent generation of synchrotron radiation by an electron storage ring is predicted for wavelengths equal to or longer than the electron bunch length. With typical bunch lengths of approximately 1 cm, diffraction and chamber-screening effects have so far blocked observation of coherent radiation from a conventional radiation beamline, in the low-energy, second-generation light source MAX-I, the magnet lattice has been tuned to a small momentum compaction factor, allowing rms bunch lengths as short as 1 mm. Here we report the coherent far-infrared emission observed from such a bunch. The paper discusses the origin of coherent synchrotron radiation for Gaussian and non-Gaussian electron bunches, and the procedure used to generate such bunches. The emission was characterized using the infrared beamline at MAX-I, including an interferometer, a liquid-helium-cooled bolometer detector, waveguide high-pass filters, and a conductive-grid polarization filter. The intensity of the coherent radiation is greater by a factor of 2x10(3) to 6 x 10(3) than normal incoherent synchrotron radiation, and is seen between 8 and 22 cm(-1). (C) 2000 Society of Photo-Optical instrumentation Engineers. [S0091-3286(00)03012-9].