ANL/APS/LS-320 Electron beam-based sources of ultrashort x-ray pulses

A review of various methods for generation of ultrashort x-ray pulses using relativistic electron beam from conventional accelerators is presented. Both spontaneous and coherent emission of electrons is considered. Introduction The importance of the time-resolved studies of matter at picosecond (ps), femtosecond (fs), and atttosecond (as) time scales using x-rays has been widely recognized including by award of a Nobel Prize in 1999 [Zewa]. Extensive reviews of scientific drivers can be found in [BES1, BES2, BES3, Lawr, Whit]. Several laser-based techniques have been used to generate ultrashort x-ray pulses including laser-driven plasmas [Murn, Alte, Risc, Rose, Zamp], high-order harmonic generation [Schn, Rund, Wang, Arpi], and laser-driven anode sources [Ande]. In addition, ultrafast streak-camera detectors have been applied at synchrotron sources to achieve temporal resolution on the picosecond time scale [Wulf, Lind1]. In this paper, we focus on a different group of techniques that are based on the use of the relativistic electron beam produced in conventional accelerators. In the first part * Work supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.