Simulations of the proposed TJNAF 20 KW Free Electron Laser
By:  Richard B. Steele
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 60
Description: As the Navy's role as peace enforcer in support of ground troops draws Navy combatants into the littoral      warfare environment, surface combatants will have to deal with decreased reaction times while engaging ever      faster antiship missile threats. The Phalanx Close In Weapon System (CIWS) does not offer sufficient accuracy      or engagement ranges to fight these threats, and conventional chemical lasers, which operate at fixed      wavelengths, lack the tunability to operate in a dynamic ocean environment. The Free Electron Laser (FEL)      offers the wavelength tunability, fast reaction times, and the pinpoint accuracy necessary to ensure protection of      Navy surface combatants into the future. In support of this goal, the Navy is funding a proposed 20 kW FEL at      Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) in Newport News, VA. This FEL will feature a      klystron undulator, designed to improve gain in weak optical fields, and a loop that will feed electrons back to      the accelerator. Simulations in this thesis vary the dispersive section strengths of the klystron undulator and      desynchronism between the optical and electron pulses in order to find dispersive strength and desynchronism      values that optimize the effects on final power and weak field gain, while maintaining an electron energy spread      less than TJNAF's goal of 6% to ensure proper feedback of electrons to the accelerator. Results show      TJNAF's 20 kW FEL design will reach a final power of 19.2 kW with an energy spread of 6% at      desynchronism of d=0.03 using a conventional undulator.
Notes: "June 1998."

Thesis advisor(s): William B. Colson.

Thesis (M.S. in Applied Physics) Naval Postgraduate School, June 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 57).

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

US Navy (USN) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 9/25/98.