Daφne Gamma-ray Factory

Gamma ray sources with high flux and spectral densities are the main requirements for new nuclear physics experiments to be performed in several worldwide laboratories with dedicated facilities. The paper is focalized on a proposal of experiment on γ photons production using Compton collisions between the DAΦNE electron beam and a high average power laser pulse, amplified in a Fabry-Pérot optical resonator. The calculations show that the resulting γ beam source has extremely interesting properties in terms of spectral density, energy spread and γ flux comparable (and even better) with the last generation γ sources. The energy of the γ beam depends on the adopted laser wavelength and can be tuned changing the energy of the electron ring. In particular we have analyzed the case of a γ factory tunable in the 2-9 MeV range. The main parameters of this new facility are presented and the perturbation on the transverse and longitudinal electron beam dynamics is discussed. A preliminary accelerator layout to allow experiments with the γ beam is presented with a first design of the accelerator optics.