Da. Jaroszynski et al., Superradiance driven by coherent spontaneous emission in a Cherenkov free-electron maser amplifier, NUCL INST A, 445(1-3), 2000, pp. 261-266
Superradiance (SR) initiated by coherent spontaneous emission (CSE) has bee
n studied in a 35 GHz high gain free-electron Cherenkov maser. We present e
xperimental results that show the development of ultra-short pulses of radi
ation in the non-linear superradiant regime which are characterised by a qu
adratic dependence of the intensity on the current. The self-similar pulses
that develop have a duration that scales inversely with the fourth root of
the intensity leading to three cycle long pulses at the highest intensity
(few MW). The non-linear SR regime is preceded by a stage of linear exponen
tial growth of the microwave pulses with a gain length of 1 cm. The superra
diant pulse is shown to evolve from a CSE seed by extrapolating the growth
curve. Further confirmation of CSE has been obtained by varying the current
pulse shape. By varying the slope of the leading edge, and thus the Fourie
r components of the longitudinal spectral density, we are able to vary the
strength of the CSE source. We compare the experimental results with a theo
retical analysis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.