Technology Commercialization and Partnerships | BSA 99-39: Compact Laser Synchrotron Light Source

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Category: electronics & instrumentation

BSA 99-39: Compact Laser Synchrotron Light Source

BNL Reference Number: BSA 99-39

Patent Status: U.S. Patent Number 6,459,766 was issued on October 1, 2002

Summary

A schematic representation of a photon generator including a high energy electron gun, a high energy laser, and an evacuated interaction track where the relativistic electron beam and the laser beam repetitively collide and responsively emit a high energy photon beam. The resulting high brightness photon beam can be tuned to gamma ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, visible light, or other narrow band EM radiation.

Conventional synchrotron light sources configured for generating x-rays are quite large and expensive and therefore do not represent a practical solution for widespread use. A smaller type of x-ray source being developed is the Laser Synchrotron Source (LSS). In the LSS, a laser beam collides with an electron beam accelerated in an interaction cell to produce a high energy photon beam, such as x-rays, based on Compton or Thomson scattering. Peak flux and brightness for the high energy photons produced in a LSS photon generator are limited by the specific configuration of the apparatus utilized.

Description

The photon generator includes an electron gun for emitting an electron beam, and a laser for emitting a laser beam. The interaction ring is a closed loop, sized and configured for circulating the electron beam with a period substantially equal to the period of the laser beam pulses for effecting repetitive collisions. The laser beam repetitively collides with the electron beam for emitting a high energy photon beam therefrom in the exemplary form of x-rays. The photon energy may be continuously tunable from about 53 nm to about 0.4 nm for 1-10 MeV electron beam pulses. And, the pulse duration of the narrow bandwidth photon beam radiation may be variable from about 50 fs to about 3 ps. The photon radiation is monochromatic, and eliminates the need for spectrometer, grating, and cooling elements, for example, which would otherwise be required in a typical synchrotron.

Benefits

This compact photon generator produces high energy photons with high brightness. The photon generator is effective for producing an output photon beam having peak and average brightness comparable to that from a conventional non-photon generator. However, the photon generator is considerably smaller in size, e.g. less than about 200 sq. ft., than a conventional synchrotron, and with correspondingly reduced capital cost and operating cost. The interaction ring provides a substantial improvement in repetitively colliding the high energy laser beam with the high energy electron beam for producing photon radiation from Thomson scattering. The photon radiation is monochromatic, and thusly eliminates the need for spectrometer, grating, and cooling elements, for example, which would otherwise be required in a typical synchrotron.