Frequency chirping of the free-electron laser

Abstract

Pulsed free-electron lasers in which there is a dependence of the electron energy on the time of injection into the wiggler are expected to produce wide bandwidth but coherent chirped optical pulses with unique characteristics. Such pulses could be compressed in a dispersive medium to lengths on the order of a few optical periods. Chirping should also produce enhanced efficiency in the high-power trapped-particle regime.