MICROBUNCHING OF RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS USING A 2-FREQUENCY LASER

A high power two-frequency laser can be used to modulate the axial mom entum of a copropagating relativistic electron beam. The net work done on each electron is accounted for almost entirely by the axial electr ic field of the laser even when approaching the one-dimensional limit. After interacting with the laser, the electron beam can be bunched ei ther by a long drift space or a dispersive optic. We give an example i n which a 2.5-TW CO2 laser and a chicane compressor are used to transf orm a constant stream of 16-MeV electrons into a train of 60-fs microb unches, each containing 10 pC of charge.