Channeling and Photon Emission of Electrons in Crystalline Undulators-Experiments

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hartmut Backe
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2008 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 101577903

The project aims to carry out experimental studies of hard X-ray and (-ray emission in an electron-based crystalline undulator which was predicted recently to be a powerful radiation source with narrow spectral band width. The dechanneling phenomenon will be investigated at (110)-planes of silicon crystals as function of the crystal thickness for various electron beam energies between 180 MeV and 1.5 GeV at the Mainz Microtron MAMI. Undulator radiation production will be studied with an existing 4-period epitaxially grown strained-layer Si1-xGex undulator with a period length λU = 50 μm and an estimated amplitude of 9 Å at beam energies of 855 MeV and 1.5 GeV. Further experiments with an undulator of about 4 μm period length and larger numbers of periods rely on the results obtained for the dechanneling-length measurements. Experiments at a beam energy of about 300 MeV will be performed if quantum effects turn out to result in a long dechanneling length, and/or at 1.5 GeV for which in a classical picture a dechanneling length of 32 μm is predicted. The experimental investigations are expected to benefit from a theoretical analysis of the underlying channeling phenomenon and characteristics of radiation emission which is formulated in the simultaneously submitted application for a DFG research grant by the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Dr. Werner Lauth