OBSERVATION OF COHERENT TRANSITION RADIATION USING RELATIVISTIC PICO SECOND ELECTRON PULSE

Abstract

When electron beam pass through boundaries of two different media with the different dielectric constants, it generates radiation. The radiation emitted by the prebunched electron beam becomes coherent if the size of the bunch is smaller than the wavelength. Therefore, transition radiation can be considered as a possible broad band radiation source as well as a probe to the pico second and sub picosecond electron beam profiles. Using 1.2 MeV, 200 mA, macropulse electron beam, transition radiation was generated. The electron gun consists of 2.856 GHz Klystron, thermionic cathode. The emitted electron beam was bunched by passing through an alpha magnet. As a result of the combination, a pico second pulse (1.2 MeV, up to 80 A micropulse) was obtained. Experimental results, comparisons with the theory, and simulated electron beam's profiles will be presented.