Crystal undulator as a new compact source of radiation

Abstract

Crystalline undulators with periodically deformed crystallographic planes offer coherent electromagnetic fields on the order of 1000 T and provide undulator period L in submillimeter range. We present an idea for creation of a crystalline undulator and report its realization. One face of a silicon crystal was given periodic microscratches (grooves) by means of a diamond blade, with a period ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 mm in different samples. The x-ray tests of the crystal deformation have shown that a sinusoidal-like shape of crystalline planes goes through the bulk of the crystals. This opens up the possibility for experiments with high-energy particles channeled in the crystalline undulator, a new compact source of radiation. The first experiments on photon emission in the crystal undulator are in preparation at IHEP (Protvino) with 2-15 GeV positrons and at LNF (Frascati) with 500-800 MeV positrons, aiming to produce undulator photons in the range of 50-500 keV. The results of Monte Carlo simulations for the planned experiments are presented as well. © 2004 The American Physical Society.