PHYSICAL REVIEW E, VOLUME 64, 056502

Quantum effects in high-gain free-electron lasers

C. B. Schroeder,1,* C. Pellegrini,1 and P. Chen2
1
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095
2
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309
共Received 30 April 2001; published 24 October 2001兲
A many-particle fully quantized theory for a free-electron laser which is valid in the high-gain regime is
presented. We examine quantum corrections for the high-gain single-pass free-electron laser. It is shown that
quantum effects become significant when the photon energy becomes comparable to the gain bandwidth. The
initiation of the free-electron laser process from quantum fluctuations in the position and momentum of the
electrons is considered, and the parameter regime for enhanced start-up is identified. Photon statistics of the
free-electron laser radiation are discussed, and the photon number statistics for the self-amplified spontaneous
emission are calculated.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.64.056502 PACS number共s兲: 41.60.Cr, 42.55.Vc, 42.50.Ct, 42.50.Ar

I. INTRODUCTION tering 关4兴 of a comparatively low-energy electron beam, ef-

fectively replacing the conventional magnetostatic undulator
The free-electron laser 共FEL兲 holds great potential as a with a counterpropagating high-intensity laser pulse 共a short-
source of intense coherent short-wavelength radiation. A wavelength electromagnetic undulator兲. Electrostatic undula-
single-pass high-gain FEL operating in the self-amplified tors may also be considered for radiation generation, e.g., the
spontaneous emission 共SASE兲 mode 关1兴 has received much interaction of a relativistic electron beam propagating
attention recently as a candidate for the next generation light through a plasma 关5兴.
sources producing coherent x rays. Coherent x-rays have a The first description of the gain mechanism of the FEL 关6兴
wide range of applications such as x-ray spectroscopy, medi- relied on quantum recoil corrections to the frequencies of the
cal and biological imagery, holography, and analysis of ul- emitted and absorbed photons, for which there is no classical
trafast processes. Presently there are major proposals in the analog. In the limit of small recoil, the main features of the
United States 关2兴 and Europe 关3兴 to construct a SASE FEL FEL process are well described in terms of classical quanti-
operating in the x-ray regime. ties 共e.g., wave electric field amplitude兲, and, at present, the
A conventional FEL amplifies coherent radiation by majority of calculations that deal with existing or proposed
means of a relativistic electron beam passing through a peri- FEL devices use classical equations of motion. As experi-
odic static magnetic field 共magnetostatic undulator兲. The ments move toward the generation of shorter wavelength ra-
FEL process can be understood as the scattering of virtual diation, with shorter undulator wavelengths, corrections to
undulator photons by the electron beam into photons of the the classical approximation for the FEL will become signifi-
radiation field, i.e., an exchange of photons between the un- cant.
dulator and the radiation, with the electrons providing the Previous quantum mechanical treatments 关6–10兴 of the
necessary momentum. This is a resonant process which emits FEL have been successful in describing the weak-field non-
radiation at the resonant wavelength collective regime. Madey 关6兴 first described the small-signal
FEL gain by calculating quantum mechanical transition rates
␭u using the Weizsäcker-Williams method. Bosco et al. 关7兴 cal-
␭ r⫽ 共 1⫹K 2 兲 , 共1兲 culated relativistic electron wave functions using quantum
2␥2 electrodynamics in the weak-field regime. An extensive re-
view of solving the single-electron Schrödinger equation
where ␭ u is the undulator wavelength, ␥ is the electron beam through perturbation in the electron recoil was presented in
Lorentz factor, and K is the undulator strength parameter the work by Dattoli and Renieri 关10兴. These results were
共normalized vector potential of the undulator magnetic field兲. derived assuming a small electron recoil due to emission and
In the limit of an ultrarelativistic ( ␥ Ⰷ1) electron beam, the absorption of discrete photons, and focused on corrections in
FEL process is analogous to Compton backscattering 共with the small-signal noncollective regime of FEL operation.
␭ u ⯝␭ 0 /2, where ␭ 0 is the incident photon wavelength兲. In this paper we present a fully quantized 共matter and
As Eq. 共1兲 indicates, production of short wavelength ra- radiation fields兲 many-particle theory of the FEL which is
diation requires either high-energy electron beams or short applicable in the high-gain collective regime. The paper is
undulator wavelengths. In addition to x-ray production by organized as follows. In Sec. II we present the Hamiltonian
conventional FEL’s, there have been proposals and experi- for the coupled electron-radiation field system. The details of
mental work to generate x rays by stimulated Compton scat- the derivation of the Hamiltonian operator are presented in
the Appendix. The theory is developed in a moving frame
where the electron motion can be treated using nonrelativis-
*Correspondence address: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, tic mechanics. In Sec. III we calculate the evolution of the
MS 99, P.O. Box 20450, Stanford, CA 94309. expectation value of the photon number operator by solving

1063-651X/2001/64共5兲/056502共10兲/$20.00 64 056502-1 ©2001 The American Physical Society

C. B. SCHROEDER, C. PELLEGRINI, AND P. CHEN PHYSICAL REVIEW E 64 056502

the Heisenberg equations. In Sec. III B we calculate quantum The total 共electron and photon兲 momentum operator com-
corrections to the stimulated emission. Start-up of SASE is mutes with the Hamiltonian,
initiated by noise in the electron beam. Therefore, in Sec.
III C, we consider quantum fluctuations in the position and
momentum of the electrons as an effective source of noise
for initiation of the FEL process. In Sec. IV the statistical
冋冉 兺Ne

j⫽1
k̄ r p̄ j ⫹
M

兺
␭⫽1
冊 册
k̄ ␭ a ␭† a ␭ , H ⫽0, 共4兲

properties of the FEL radiation are examined, and the photon

number statistics for the SASE FEL radiation are calculated. and is a constant of motion. The emission of photons is bal-
A summary and some discussion of the results are offered in anced by the recoil of the electrons.
Sec. V.
III. HEISENBERG EQUATIONS
II. FEL HAMILTONIAN
To study the FEL process we will use the Heisenberg
The N e -electron M-mode quantized Hamiltonian operator picture and evolve the quantum mechanical operators. The
describing the FEL interaction in the frame moving at the time evolution of the operators is given by the Heisenberg
mean velocity of the electron beam can be written as equations

冉 冊
M N
1 e
p̄ 2j
H⫽ 兺
␭⫽1
ប␻
¯ ␭ a ␭† a ␭ ⫹
2
⫹
j⫽1
兺
ប⍀
2
d␪␭j
⫽
1 k̄ ␭
关 ␪ ␭ j ,H 兴 ⫽ ⍀ p̄ j , 共5兲
dt ⬘ iប

冉 冊
k̄ r
M Ne

⫹ 兺
␭⫽1
បg ␭ a ␭† a u 兺
j⫽1
e ⫺i ␪ ␭ j ⫹H.c. . 共2兲
d p̄ j 1
M
k̄ ␭
dt ⬘
⫽
iប
关 p̄ j ,H 兴 ⫽i 兺
␭⫽1 k̄ r
g ␭ 共 a ␭† a u e ⫺i ␪ ␭ j ⫺a ␭ a *
ue
i␪␭ j
兲,
The parameter ⍀⫽បk̄ r2 /m determines the electron recoil, and 共6兲
the parameter
e N
2␲e2 da ␭ 1
g ␭⫽ 共3兲 ⫽ 关 a ␭ ,H 兴 ⫽⫺i ␻
¯ ␭ a ␭ ⫺ig ␭ a u e ⫺i ␪ ␭ j .兺 共7兲
mcV 冑k ␭ k u dt ⬘ iប j⫽1

determines the strength of the coupling between the undula- In analogy to classical FEL theory 关1兴, it is convenient to
tor and radiation field, where m⫽m e (1⫹K 2 ) 1/2 is the renor- define operators representing the observables of the collec-
malized electron mass, k r ⫽2 ␲ /␭ r , and k u ⫽2 ␲ /␭ u . The tive motion of the electron beam. Consider a bunching op-
Hilbert space operators in Eq. 共2兲 satisfy the commutation erator
relations 关 ␪ ␭i ,p̄ j 兴 ⫽i(k̄ ␭ /k̄ r ) ␦ i j and 关 a ␭ ,a ␮† 兴 ⫽ ␦ ␭ ␮ , where
␪ ␭ j ⫽k̄ ␭ z ⬘j is the FEL phase, p̄ j ⫽p ⬘j /(បk̄ r ) is the normalized 1
Ne

共to the recoil provided by a photon exchange between the b ␭⫽

Ne 兺
j⫽1
e ⫺i ␪ ␭ j 共8兲
undulator and the resonant radiation field兲 electron axial mo-
mentum, and a ␭ (a ␭† ) are the photon annihilation 共creation兲
and a collective momentum operator
operators of the radiation field. Here k̄ ␭ ⫽k ␭⬘ ⫹k u⬘ and ␻ ¯␭
⫽ ␻ ␭⬘ ⫺ ␻ u⬘ . The primes indicate quantities in the electron
p ⬘j
Ne
1
beam rest frame.
The details of the derivation of the time-independent Her-
␲ ␭⫽
Ne 兺 e ⫺i ␪
j⫽1
␭j
បk̄ ␭
, 共9兲
mitian Hamiltonian operator describing the FEL process 关Eq.
共2兲兴 are presented in the Appendix. In particular we have
which is the normalized axial momentum averaged over the
assumed that the undulator field is much larger than the ra-
FEL phase. Note that the collective operators satisfy the fol-
diation field 具 a †u a u 典 Ⰷ 具 a ␭† a ␭ 典 , and that the number of undu-
lowing commutation relations: 关 b ␭ ,b ␭† 兴 ⫽0, N e 关 b ␭ , ␲ ␭† 兴
lator photons is very large 具 a †u a u 典 Ⰷ1, such that we may treat
⫽1, N e 关 b ␭ , ␲ ␭ 兴 ⫽N ⫺1
e 兺 j⫽1 exp(⫺2i␪␭j), and N e 关 ␲ ␭ , ␲ ␭ 兴
Ne †
the undulator field classically and replace the undulator cre- ⫺1
ation and annihilation operators with c numbers. This is ⫽1⫹N e 兺 j⫽1 2 p ⬘j /(បk̄ ␭ ). The Heisenberg equations for
Ne

well-satisfied for undulators with K⬃1. It should also be the time evolution of the collective operators are
noted that Eq. 共2兲 is a one-dimensional model. This one-
dimensional model will be valid provided the electron beam
phase space is smaller than the phase space occupied by the
photon beam 共i.e., 4 ␲ ␧ n ⬍␭ r ␥ , where ␧ n is the normalized
da ␭
d␶
⫽i ␦ ␭ a ␭ ⫺i
Ne
q␭ 冉 冊 1/2
au
b ,
兩 a u兩 ␭
共10兲

transverse emittance of the electron beam兲 and the Rayleigh

range of the radiation is larger than the characteristic gain db ␭ q␭
⫽i b ␭ ⫺iq ␭ ␲ ␭ , 共11兲
length of the radiation field, i.e., diffraction effects are small. d␶ 2

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QUANTUM EFFECTS IN HIGH-GAIN FREE-ELECTRON LASERS PHYSICAL REVIEW E 64 056502

冉 冊 ⫽(a2u/兩au兩2)N⫺1
e 兺 j⫽1 exp„⫺2i 具 ␪ ␭ j (0) 典 …⫽0 for an initially
2 Ne
p ⬘j
Ne
d␲␭ q␭ 1
d␶
⫽i ␲ ␭ ⫺iq ␭
2 Ne 兺 e ⫺i ␪ ␭ j
បk̄ ␭
unbunched electron beam. The linearized Heisenberg equa-
j⫽1
tions for a single mode 共dropping the mode label ␭) take the

冉 冊冋
M 1/2 Ne forms
1 a* 1
⫺i 兺
␯ ⫽1 q ␯N e
u
兩 a u兩
a␯
Ne 兺
j⫽1
e ⫺i( ␪ ␭ j ⫺ ␪ ␯ j )
dB q
⫽i B⫺i P, 共17兲

册
Ne d␶ 2
au † 1
⫺ a
兩 a u兩 ␯N e 兺
j⫽1
e ⫺i( ␪ ␭ j ⫹ ␪ ␯ j ) . 共12兲
dP q
⫽i P⫺ia, 共18兲
d␶ 2
Here ␶ ⫽ ␳ k̄ r ct ⬘ ⫽4 ␲␳ N u is the normalized number of undu-
lator periods N u , ␦ ⫽(k r ⫺k)/(2k r ␳ ) is the normalized fre- da
quency detuning, and ⫽i ␦ a⫺iB. 共19兲
d␶
ប␻␭
q ␭⫽ , 共13兲 Note that these equations may be derived from the linearized
␳ ␥ m ec 2 Hamiltonian operator

where ␳ is the dimensionless FEL parameter 关1兴: q

H l ⫽⫺ ␦ a † a⫹a † B⫹aB † ⫺ 共 P † B⫹B † P 兲 ⫹ P † P,

冉 冊 1/3 2
␲ e 2N eK 2␥ 共20兲
␳⫽ . 共14兲
m e V ␥⬜4 ␻ r2
with momentum conservation expressed as
We shall refer to q ␭ , defined in Eq. 共13兲, as the quantum-
recoil parameter. As we will show, the quantum-recoil pa- 关 B † P⫹ P † B⫹a † a, H l 兴 ⫽0. 共21兲
rameter q ␭ is a critical parameter for characterizing the quan-
The Heisenberg equations for the linear collective opera-
tum effects. For existing FEL devices, the quantum-recoil
tors can be combined to yield the following equation for the
parameter is typically small: q ␭ Ⰶ1. The parameter can be
evolution of the annihilation operator:
interpreted as the ratio of the axial displacement due to the
emission or absorption of a discrete photon to the radiation
wavelength. In classical FEL theory, q r⫺1 ⫽ ␳ ␥ m e c 2 /(ប ␻ r ) is
approximately the number of resonant photons emitted per
冋冉 d
d␶
⫺i
q
2 冊冉
2
d
d␶ 冊 册
⫺i ␦ ⫺i a⫽0, 共22兲

electron at saturation. which has the general solution

A multimode radiation field is explicitly considered in the
derivation of the Heisenberg equations. The multimode a 共 ␶ 兲 ⫽g 1 共 ␶ 兲 a 共 0 兲 ⫹g 2 共 ␶ 兲 B 共 0 兲 ⫹g 3 共 ␶ 兲 P 共 0 兲 . 共23兲
Hamiltonian is necessary to study mode competition and the
development of temporal coherence. We will now consider The coefficients in Eq. 共23兲 are
the simpler case of single-mode operation in the linear re-
gime of amplification. 共 ␮ 2 ⫺ ␦ 兲共 ␮ 3 ⫺ ␦ 兲 e i ␮ 1 ␶ 共 ␮ 1 ⫺ ␦ 兲共 ␮ 3 ⫺ ␦ 兲 e i ␮ 2 ␶
g 1共 ␶ 兲 ⫽ ⫹
共 ␮ 1 ⫺ ␮ 2 兲共 ␮ 1 ⫺ ␮ 3 兲 共 ␮ 2 ⫺ ␮ 3 兲共 ␮ 2 ⫺ ␮ 1 兲
A. Linear regime
共 ␮ 2 ⫺ ␦ 兲共 ␮ 1 ⫺ ␦ 兲 e i ␮ 3 ␶
The Heisenberg equations 关Eqs. 共10兲–共12兲兴 can be solved ⫹ , 共24兲
in the linear regime of amplification, which will be valid 共 ␮ 3 ⫺ ␮ 2 兲共 ␮ 3 ⫺ ␮ 1 兲
before the FEL process reaches saturation. For simplicity we
will also consider an initially cold unbunched electron beam. 关共 q/2兲 ⫺ ␮ 1 兴 e i ␮ 1 ␶ 关共 q/2兲 ⫺ ␮ 2 兴 e i ␮ 2 ␶
g 2共 ␶ 兲 ⫽ ⫹
Consider the linearized renormalized collective operators 共 ␮ 1 ⫺ ␮ 2 兲共 ␮ 1 ⫺ ␮ 3 兲 共 ␮ 2 ⫺ ␮ 3 兲共 ␮ 2 ⫺ ␮ 1 兲

冑 关共 q/2兲 ⫺ ␮ 3 兴 e i ␮ 3 ␶
Ne
Ne au i
B ␭⫽
q ␭ 兩 a u兩 N e 兺
j⫽1
e ⫺i 具 ␪ ␭ j (0) 典 „具 ␪ ␭ j 共 0 兲 典 ⫺ ␪ ␭ j …, ⫹
共 ␮ 3 ⫺ ␮ 2 兲共 ␮ 3 ⫺ ␮ 1 兲
, 共25兲

共15兲
e i␮1␶ e i␮2␶
g 3共 ␶ 兲 ⫽ ⫹
p ⬘j
Ne
au 1 共 ␮ 1 ⫺ ␮ 2 兲共 ␮ 1 ⫺ ␮ 3 兲 共 ␮ 2 ⫺ ␮ 3 兲共 ␮ 2 ⫺ ␮ 1 兲
P ␭ ⫽ 冑N e q ␭
兩 a u兩 N e 兺 e ⫺i 具 ␪ ␭ j (0) 典
បk̄ ␭
, 共16兲
j⫽1 e i␮3␶
⫹ , 共26兲
共 ␮ 3 ⫺ ␮ 2 兲共 ␮ 3 ⫺ ␮ 1 兲
where we have assumed an initially cold, 具 p ⬘j (0) 典 ⫽0, un-
bunched, N ⫺1 ⫺i 具 ␪ ␭ j (0) 典
Ne
e 兺 j⫽1 e ⫽0, electron beam. The com- where ␮ j 共for j⫽1,2,3) satisfies the dispersion relation
mutation relations for the linearized collective operators are
关 B ␭ ,B ␭† 兴 ⫽0, 关 P ␭ , P ␭† 兴 ⫽0, 关 B ␭ , P ␭† 兴 ⫽1, and 关 B ␭ , P ␭ 兴 ␮ 3 ⫺ 共 ␦ ⫹q 兲 ␮ 2 ⫹ 共 ␦ q⫹q 2 /4兲 ␮ ⫹1⫺ ␦ q 2 /4⫽0. 共27兲

056502-3
C. B. SCHROEDER, C. PELLEGRINI, AND P. CHEN PHYSICAL REVIEW E 64 056502

In the classical limit 共i.e., lim q→0), Eq. 共27兲 reduces to the
characteristic cubic equation of classical FEL theory 关1兴.
Note that this linear solution 关Eqs. 共23兲–共27兲兴 preserves the
commutation relation for the annihilation and creation opera-
tors, 关 a,a † 兴 ⫽ 兩 g 1 兩 2 ⫹g * 3 g 2 ⫽1, for all ␶ .
2 g 3 ⫹g *
The time evolution of the number of laser photons is
given by the expectation value of the number operator a † a:

具 a †a 典 ⫽ 兩 g 1兩 2具 a †共 0 兲 a 共 0 兲 典 ⫹ 兩 g 2兩 2具 B †共 0 兲 B 共 0 兲 典
⫹ 兩 g 3 兩 2 具 P † 共 0 兲 P 共 0 兲 典 ⫹g *
2 g 3具 B 共 0 兲 P 共 0 兲典
†

3 g 2具 P 共 0 兲B 共 0 兲典 .
⫹g * 共28兲
†

Here we have assumed that initially there are no correlations FIG. 1. The power gain length L g and the gain coefficient A
between the electrons and photons and 具 B † (0) 典 ⫽ 具 B(0) 典 normalized to the classical values 关 L class⫽(2 冑3k u ␳ ) ⫺1 and A class
⫽ 具 P † (0) 典 ⫽ 具 P(0) 典 ⫽0. Note that the first term on the right- ⫽1/9兴 as functions of the quantum-recoil parameter for resonant
hand side of Eq. 共28兲 is the contribution due to stimulated radiation q.
emission, while the last four terms are due to spontaneous
emission. A solution of this form 关Eq. 共28兲兴 was originally end at saturation, which will occur when the beam becomes
studied by Bonifacio and Casagrande 关11兴, although in their modulated at the resonant radiation wavelength 具 b r† b r 典 ⬃1.
work the noncommutativity of the collective operators was
neglected in the Heisenberg equations; therefore, they found
only the classical FEL dynamics. C. Spontaneous radiation
In the SASE mode of operation the spontaneous emission
B. Stimulated radiation emitted in the undulator is coherently amplified by the FEL
process. It was recognized by many authors 关11,12兴 that the
The solution to the Heisenberg equations in the regime of
spontaneous FEL radiation can be affected by the quantum
linear amplification has an unstable solution, leading to ex-
fluctuations of the electron beam. To evaluate the spontane-
ponential growth in the mean number of photons. A stability
ous emission it is necessary to know the initial expectation
analysis of the dispersion relation 关Eq. 共27兲兴 indicates that
values of the collective operators in Eq. 共28兲, which requires
instability is achieved for frequency detuning satisfying ␦
knowledge of the initial wave function of the electron beam.
⬍(3/22/3) 关 1⫹q/(54) 1/3兴 . The discrete electron recoil shifts
As an example, we may consider the case where the initial
the regime of stability.
state of the electron beam is described by the product of
In the high-gain regime ( ␶ ⬎1), at resonance, the gain due
N e minimum-uncertainty wave packets 关11兴, such that
to stimulated radiation can be expressed using Eqs. 共24兲 and
the conjugate operators for each electron p ⬘j and ␪ j satisfy
共27兲 as
the equality Heisenberg uncertainty relation
具 a † 共 ␶ 兲 a 共 ␶ 兲 典 st 具 关 ⌬ ␪ (0) 兴 2 典具 关 ⌬p ⬘ (0) 兴 2 典 ⫽(បk̄ ␭ ) 2 /4, where the variance op-
⫽ 兩 g 1 兩 2 ⯝A 共 q 兲 exp关 L/L g 共 q 兲兴 , 共29兲 erators for the position and momentum for each electron are
具 a †共 0 兲 a 共 0 兲 典
⌬ ␪ ␭ j ⫽ ␪ ␭ j ⫺ 具 ␪ ␭ j 典 and ⌬p ⬘j ⫽ p ⬘j ⫺ 具 p ⬘j 典 . For this case the ini-
where L⫽N u ␭ u is the distance along the undulator in the tial expectation values of the resonant linearized collective
laboratory frame, A is the gain coefficient, and L g is the operators in Eq. 共28兲, assuming an initially cold unbunched
power gain length. The dependence of A and L g on the reso- electron beam, are
nant quantum-recoil parameter q is shown in Fig. 1. This 1
figure shows the deviation from the classically predicted val- 具 B † 共 0 兲 B 共 0 兲 典 ⫽ 关 N e 兩 b c 共 0 兲 兩 2 ⫹ 具 „⌬ ␪ 共 0 兲 …2 典 兴 , 共30兲
ues as the quantum-recoil parameter q approaches unity and q
the FEL process moves from the classical to the quantum
regime. In particular the figure shows the increase in the 1
power gain length as q increases. This reduction in gain is 具 B † 共 0 兲 P 共 0 兲 典 ⫽ 具 P † 共 0 兲 B 共 0 兲 典 ⫽⫺ , 共31兲
2
due to the strong recoil of the electrons in the parameter
regime where q⬃1. The strong recoil moves the electrons
off resonance after the emission of a photon, thereby de-
具 P † 共 0 兲 P 共 0 兲 典 ⫽q 具 „⌬ p̄ 共 0 兲 …2 典 . 共32兲
creasing the probability of emitting additional photons and
reducing the gain. To lowest order in the quantum-recoil In Eq. 共30兲, we have interpreted the centroid of the quantum
parameter q, the gain coefficient and power gain length sat- wave packet as the classical position for each electron such
that the classical bunching parameter is
isfy A⫽(1/9)关 1⫺q/3⫹••• 兴 and L g ⫽(2 冑3k u ␳ ) ⫺1 关 1
⫹q 2 /36⫹••• 兴 . In the limit q→0, these quantities reduce to Ne
the classical one-dimensional results 关1兴: A class⫽1/9 and 1
L class⫽(2 冑3k u ␳ ) ⫺1 . The exponential growth in Eq. 共29兲 will
b c⫽
Ne 兺
j⫽1
exp关 ⫺i 具 ␪ j 典 兴 . 共33兲

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QUANTUM EFFECTS IN HIGH-GAIN FREE-ELECTRON LASERS PHYSICAL REVIEW E 64 056502

For an initially random longitudinal distribution of electron

wave packet centroids in phase 共i.e., classical shot noise兲,
N e 兩 b c (0) 兩 2 ⫽1.
With Eqs. 共30兲–共33兲, the expectation value of the photon
number operator Eq. 共28兲 for the spontaneous radiation can
be expressed as

q
q 具 a † a 典 sp⫽N e 兩 b c 兩 2 兩 g 2 兩 2 ⫹ 具 共 ⌬ ␪ 兲 2 典 兩 g 2 兩 2 ⫺ 共 g 2* g 3 ⫹g *
3 g2兲
2

⫹q 2 具 共 ⌬ p̄ 兲 2 典 兩 g 3 兩 2 . 共34兲

The first term on the right hand side of Eq. 共34兲 represents
classical bunching, while the remaining terms represent the FIG. 2. The amplification of the normalized spontaneous radia-
effective bunching due to quantum fluctuations in the posi- tion intensity q 具 a † a 典 sp vs the normalized undulator length 4 ␲␳ N u ,
tion and momentum of the electrons. With no initial classical for quantum-recoil parameters: q⫽2 共solid curve兲, q⫽0.5 共dashed
bunching 兩 b c (0) 兩 2 ⫽0 共e.g., an ideal periodic or crystalline curve兲, and q⫽0 共dotted curve兲.
beam兲 and no initial input radiation 具 a † (0)a(0) 典 ⫽0, Eq.
共34兲 gives the number of laser photons radiated starting from The photon number expectation value 关Eq. 共36兲兴 can be
only quantum fluctuations in the electron beam. This is the solved explicitly using Eqs. 共24兲–共27兲. The expectation value
minimum spontaneous radiation produced by any beam pass- for the photon number operator, assuming an electron beam
ing through the undulator. with initial bunching due to classical shot noise N e 兩 b c (0) 兩 2
In the classical limit 关i.e., in the limit 具 (⌬ ␪ ) 2 典 ⫽0, ⫽1 and no initial radiation 具 a † (0)a(0) 典 ⫽0, is shown in
具 (⌬p̄) 2 典 ⫽0, and lim q→0兴, the spontaneous emission 关Eq. Fig. 2. In Fig. 2 the dotted curve is the classical solution
共34兲兴 reduces to (q⫽0), the dashed curve is the solution for a resonant
quantum-recoil parameter of q⫽0.5, and the solid curve is
1 the solution for a resonant quantum-recoil parameter of q
ប ␻ 具 a † a 典 ⫽ e (2 冑3 ␳ k u L) ␳ ␥ m e c 2 N e 兩 b c 共 0 兲 兩 2 , 共35兲 ⫽2. The figure shows the initial enhancement of the radia-
9
tion due to the effective bunching from quantum fluctuations
in the electron beam. The figure also shows the reduction in
in the high-gain regime, which is the well-known result for a
power gain length, compared to what is predicted by classi-
classical SASE FEL 关1兴.
cal theory, owing to the strong electron recoil in the param-
We can also consider the case where the initial minimum-
eter regime q⬃1.
uncertainty wave packet for each electron is localized such
that the initial variance in position is 具 (⌬ ␪ ) 2 (0) 典
⫽2 ␲ N u ␳ q. This initial state will minimize the expectation IV. PHOTON STATISTICS
value of the variance in position over the length of the un-
In this section we discuss the statistical properties of the
dulator of a free-space Gaussian wave packet, which evolves
FEL radiation. A description of the photon statistics of the
in time as 具 (⌬ ␪ ) 2 (t ⬘ ) 典 ⫽ 具 (⌬ ␪ ) 2 (0) 典 ⫹(ប 2 k̄ r4 t ⬘ 2)/ radiation requires a fully quantized 共matter and radiation
关 4m 具 (⌬ ␪ ) (0) 典 兴 . With this near-classical initial condition,
2 2
fields兲 treatment of the FEL interaction. If the electron mo-
the expectation value for the number of photons 关Eq. 共34兲兴 mentum operator is treated as a classical c number, the prob-
can be expressed as lem reduces to that of a classical current interacting with a
quantized radiation field. It is well known that the photon
q field emitted by a classical current into a single mode is
q 具 a † a 典 sp⯝N e 兩 b c 兩 2 兩 g 2 兩 2 ⫹ 关共 4 ␲ N u ␳ 兲 兩 g 2 兩 2 ⫺ 共 g 2* g 3 ⫹g 3* g 2 兲
2 described by a coherent Glauber state 关13兴, which obeys
Poisson statistics. A comprehensive analysis of the statistical
⫹ 共 4 ␲ N u ␳ 兲 ⫺1 兩 g 3 兩 2 兴 . 共36兲 properties of the SASE FEL radiation based on classical ra-
diation theory was presented in Ref. 关14兴. While photon sta-
In the high-gain regime to first order in the quantum-recoil tistics can be analyzed within the context of classical theory
parameter, 兩 g 2 兩 2 ⯝(1⫹q/2) 兩 g 1 兩 2 , 兩 g 3 兩 2 ⯝(1⫹q/3) 兩 g 1 兩 2 , and in terms of the statistical fluctuations in the coordinates and
g 3* g 2 ⫹g *
2 g 3 ⯝⫺ 兩 g 1 兩 , where 兩 g 1 兩 is given by Eq. 共29兲. For
2 2
number of the radiating particles, the results are not gener-
a FEL designed to reach saturation, N u ␳ ⬃1; therefore we ally consistent with the predictions of the fully quantized
may expect an enhanced start-up from quantum fluctuations theory 关15兴.
if q⬃N e 兩 b c 兩 2 . For the case of an electron beam initially The departure from Poisson statistics of the stimulated
seeded with classical shot noise (N e 兩 b c 兩 2 ⫽1), Eq. 共36兲 indi- emission can be calculated using Eq. 共23兲:
cates that the relative increase in start-up due to the effective
bunching produced by the quantum fluctuations in the elec- 关 具 共 a † a 兲 2 典 st⫺ 具 a † a 典 st2兴 ⫺ 具 a † a 典 st
tron beam will be of the order of the quantum-recoil
parameter. ⫽ 兩 g 1 兩 4 共 具 a †2 共 0 兲 a 2 共 0 兲 典 ⫺ 具 a † 共 0 兲 a 共 0 兲 典 2 兲 . 共37兲

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Depending on the quantum state of the initial seeding radia-

tion, the photon statistics of the stimulated radiation may be
super- or sub-Poissonian 共e.g., if the radiation is initially in a
␾共 兵␣其 兲⫽
M

兿 †
␭⫽1 ␲ 具 a a
1
␭ ␭典
exp ⫺ 冋 兩 ␣ ␭共 ␶ 兲兩 2
具 a ␭† a ␭ 典
册 , 共41兲

Fock state, then the stimulated FEL radiation will be sub-

Poissonian兲. If the initial radiation seeding the FEL amplifier where 兵 ␣ 其 ⫽ 兵 ␣ 1 , ␣ 2 , . . . , ␣ M 其 is the set of annihilation op-
is in a coherent Glauber state of single mode, a( ␶ ) 兩 ␣ 典 erator eigenvalues for each mode. Note that the SASE FEL
⫽ ␣ ( ␶ ) 兩 ␣ 典 , then the field will remain in a coherent Glauber radiation with statistics defined by the positive-definite
state, and the stimulated emission will have Poisson statis- Glauber quasiprobability function 关Eq. 共41兲兴 will exhibit
tics; the probability of occupation of the photon number state only bunching of photoelectric detections. If the field is ini-
兩 n 典 is a Poisson distribution, tially in a vacuum state, then the probability of occupation of
a set of photon number states 兩 兵 n 其 典 ⫽ 兿 ␭ 兩 n ␭ 典 is

冋 册
具 a † a 典 st M ⫺n ␭
兩具 n兩␣ 典兩2⫽ exp关 ⫺ 具 a † a 典 st兴 , 共38兲 1 1
n! 兩具兵n其兩兵0其典兩 ⫽ 2
兿
␭⫽1 1⫹ 具 a ␭† a ␭ 典
1⫹
具 a ␭† a ␭ 典
. 共42兲

with the number operator variance 具 (a † a) 2 典 st⫺ 具 a † a 典 st2

⫽ 具 a † a 典 st⫽ 兩 g 1 兩 2 具 a † (0)a(0) 典 . We define the total occupation number as the sum over all
The spontaneous radiation in the FEL process is due to a modes 具 n 典 ⫽ 兺 ␭⫽1
M
具 a ␭† a ␭ 典 . The probability of the total occu-
large number of independent sources 共electrons兲. This has pation number n is the sum over all possible sets of mode
profound effects on the photon statistics. The Glauber qua- occupation numbers 兵 n ␭ 其 summing to n,
siprobability function 关13兴 共i.e., the diagonal coherent-state
representation兲 for the spontaneous radiation ␾ sp( ␣ ) is a
convolution of the Glauber quasiprobability functions of the
兩具 n兩兵0 其典兩2⫽ 兺 兩 具 兵 n ⬘ 其 兩 兵 0 其 典 兩 2 ␦ nn ⬘
⬘
兵n 其

冕 兿 冋 ␲具 ␣ 冉 冊 册冉
radiation emitted by each individual electron ␾ j ( ␣ j ). Pro-
冊
M
vided there is a sufficiently large number of independent d2 ␭ ⫺ 兩 ␣ ␭兩 2 ␤ 2n ⫺ ␤ 2
⫽ exp e ,
sources, the Glauber quasiprobability function for the spon- ␭⫽1 a ␭† a ␭ 典 具 a ␭† a ␭ 典 n!
taneous radiation will be a negative exponential distribution
关13兴 共43兲

冉 冊兿
where ␤ 2 ⫽ 兺 ␭⫽1
M
兩 ␣ ␭ 兩 2 . This is the general solution for the
冕␦
Ne Ne

␾ sp共 ␣ 兲 ⫽ (2)
␣⫺ 兺 ␣ j ␾ j共 ␣ j 兲d 2␣ j total photon number expectation 关18兴.
j⫽1 j⫽1 If we neglect the spectral distribution of the SASE radia-

冋 册
tion and assume the occupation number expectation values
1 兩 ␣共 ␶ 兲兩 2 of all M modes are equal, i.e., 具 n 典 ⬇M 具 a ␭† a ␭ 典 for any ␭, then
⫽ exp ⫺ . 共39兲
␲ 具 a † a 典 sp 具 a † a 典 sp Eq. 共43兲 can be evaluated analytically. With this equal occu-
pation number assumption, the probability of occupation of
This is a quantum optical analog to the central limit theorem. the total photon number state 兩 n 典 , given an initial vacuum
The probability of occupation of the photon number state 兩 n 典 state, is a negative binomial distribution
is then a thermal 共chaotic兲 distribution
⌫ 共 n⫹M 兲 关 1⫹M / 具 n 典 兴 ⫺n

冉 冊
兩具 n兩兵0 其典兩2⫽ , 共44兲
1 1
⫺n ⌫ 共 M 兲 ⌫ 共 n⫺1 兲 关 1⫹ 具 n 典 /M 兴 M
兩具 n兩0 典兩2⫽ 1⫹ , 共40兲
1⫹ 具 a † a 典 sp 具 a † a 典 sp with joint photon number state occupation variance 具 n 2 典
⫺ 具 n 典 2 ⫽ 具 n 典 2 /M ⫹ 具 n 典 . For a typical SASE FEL, 具 n 典
with number operator variance 具 (a † a) 2 典 sp⫺ 具 a † a 典 sp 2
⫽ 兺 ␭⫽1
M
具 a ␭† a ␭ 典 ⰇM ⬎1. The negative binomial distribution
⫽ 具 a a 典 sp( 具 a a 典 sp⫹1). As a result, the spontaneous emis-
† †
关Eq. 共44兲兴 was suggested previously by several authors 关19兴
sion exhibits only first-order coherence. The thermal statis- as an adequate description of the SASE FEL radiation. We
tics of the spontaneous FEL radiation 关Eq. 共40兲兴 was first expect this approximation will be valid in the asymptotic
shown by Becker and McIver 关16兴. The total quasiprobability limit ␴ t →⬁.
distribution of the FEL radiation for a single mode is a con- The equal occupation approximation used to derive Eq.
volution of the stimulated and spontaneous radiation qua- 共44兲 does not take into consideration the spectral distribution
siprobability distributions. of the FEL radiation. The spectral distribution of the FEL
In general, the radiation produced by a SASE FEL will radiation, determined by the dispersion relation 关Eq. 共27兲兴, is
consist of many modes provided the FEL bandwidth is approximately Gaussian
greater than the Fourier limited bandwidth ␴ ␻ ⬎1/␴ t , where
␴ ␻ is the FEL bandwidth and ␴ t is the pulse duration. The a ␭† a ␭ ⫽a r† a r exp关 ⫺ 共 ␻ ␭ ⫺ ␻ r 兲 2 / 共 2 ␴ ␻2 兲兴 . 共45兲
number of modes present in the spectral distribution will be
approximately M ⬃ ␴ ␻ ␴ t 关17兴. The multimode spontaneous Although the general probability distribution 关Eq. 共43兲兴 is
radiation Glauber quasiprobability function may be ex- difficult to evaluate analytically for arbitrary spectral distri-
pressed as 关13兴 bution, we may use Eq. 共43兲 to calculate the normalized

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QUANTUM EFFECTS IN HIGH-GAIN FREE-ELECTRON LASERS PHYSICAL REVIEW E 64 056502

moments of n. The factorial moments of the photon number magnetic undulator device with comparable efficiency ␳
statistics 具 n (m) 典 ⫽ 具 n(n⫺1)•••(n⫺m⫹1) 典 can be calcu- ⬃10⫺4 , then the quantum-recoil parameter is q⬃1. In this
lated using a simple relation 关20兴 between the photon count- regime we can expect deviations from the predictions of
ing correlations and counting moments 具 exp(n␰)典⫽具exp关(e␰ classical theory owing to the discrete electron recoil and the
⫺1)兺␭⫽1M
兩␣␭兩2兴典. With this relation, and assuming a Gaussian quantum fluctuations of the electron beam, as discussed in
spectral distribution 关Eq. 共45兲兴, the expectation values of the Secs. III B and III C. Specifically, the theory presented in
first few factorial moments of the total photon occupation this paper predicts a reduction in the gain, given in Eq. 共29兲,
number n for the SASE radiation are and enhanced start-up due to the effective bunching pro-
duced by quantum fluctuations, given by Eq. 共36兲.
具 n (2) 典 1 In this paper we have presented a many-particle quantum
⫽1⫹ , 共46兲 theory of the FEL. The Heisenberg equations were solved for
具n典 2 M
a single-mode radiation field before saturation. The stimu-
lated amplification of the radiation was computed in the
具 n (3) 典 3 4 冑3 high-gain collective regime. For FEL parameters satisfying
⫽1⫹ ⫹ , 共47兲
具n典3 M 3M 2 q⬃1, the gain was shown to decrease compared to the clas-
sically predicted value, owing to the strong electron recoil.
具 n (4) 典 6 共 9⫹16冑3 兲 6 冑2 The initiation of spontaneous radiation due to quantum fluc-
⫽1⫹ ⫹ ⫹ 3 共48兲 tuations in the position and momentum of the electron beam
具n典 4 M 3M 2 M was examined. The minimum spontaneous radiation emitted
by the beam passing through the undulator was calculated.
for M Ⰷ1. The higher-order photon number counting mo- For an initial electron beam wave function in the near-
ments, e.g., Eqs. 共47兲 and 共48兲, deviate from those generated classical regime, the effective bunching of the beam due to
by the negative binomial probability distribution 关Eq. 共44兲兴, initial quantum fluctuations was shown to increase by a fac-
which predicts tor of ⬃q from the classical shot noise value. The photon
statistics of the FEL radiation was also examined, and the
具 n (m) 典 ⌫ 共 m⫹M 兲 photon counting statistics of the SASE radiation was calcu-
⫽ . 共49兲
具n典 m
M m⌫共 M 兲 lated including the effects of the FEL spectral distribution.

As expected, in the limit ␴ ␻ ␴ t →⬁ the expectation values of ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

the photon number counting moments predicted by the nega-
tive binomial distribution are a good approximation to the One of the authors 共C.B.S.兲 would like to thank Andrew
expectation values of the exact photon number counting mo- Charman for many enlightening discussions. This work was
ments for the Gaussian spectral distribution of the SASE supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, under Grant
FEL. No. DE-FG03-92ER40693.

V. DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY APPENDIX

In this paper we have shown that quantum effects mani- In this appendix we derive the Hermitian Hamiltonian op-
fest themselves in a FEL when the quantum-recoil param- erator for the FEL 关Eq. 共2兲兴. The classical Hamiltonian de-
eter, defined in Eq. 共13兲, approaches unity, i.e., when the scribing the matter-radiation interaction is
photon energy is comparable to the gain bandwidth ប ␻
⬃ ␳ ␥ m e c 2 . In this parameter regime the axial displacement Ne
due to the emission or absorption of a single photon is com- H⫽ 兺 冑m 2e c 4 ⫹ 共 c Pជ j ⫹eAជ 兲 2 ,
j⫽1
共A1兲
parable to the radiation wavelength.
Proposed x-ray SASE FEL’s based on conventional mag-
netostatic undulators, e.g., Refs. 关2,3兴, will typically have where P ជ j is the canonical momentum, Aជ is the field vector
undulators with ␭ u ⬃1 cm and K⬃1. Production of 1-Å potential, N e is the number of electrons in the beam, m e is
radiation will then require an electron beam energy of ␥ the mass of the electron, ⫺e is the charge of the electron,
⬃104 . These conventional x-ray sources will have efficien- and c is the speed of light in vacuum. We will assume that
cies of the order of ␳ ⬃10⫺4 , where the FEL parameter 共de- the electron beam is sufficiently dilute such that space charge
vice efficiency兲 is given by Eq. 共14兲. For these parameters, effects are negligible.
q⬃10⫺3 , and we expect the conventional FEL x-ray sources, The Coulomb gauge ⵜ•A ជ ⫽0 is chosen, and we assume
to a good approximation, to be in the classical regime.
the radiation fields propagate along the ẑ direction. The vec-
X-ray production using a high-power optical laser pulse
tor potential may be decomposed such that A ជ ⫽Aជ L ⫹Aជ u ,
such as an electromagnetic undulator, with, for example, a
laser wavelength of ␭ 0 ⫽1 ␮ m, and a normalized vector where Aជ u is the vector potential describing the undulator and
potential of K⬃1 共i.e., a peak laser intensity of I ជ L is the vector potential describing the laser field which
A
⬃1018 W cm⫺2 ), would require an electron beam energy of may consist of M modes. The vector potentials of the laser
␥ ⬃102 to produce 1-Å radiation. If we consider an electro- and undulator may be written as

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C. B. SCHROEDER, C. PELLEGRINI, AND P. CHEN PHYSICAL REVIEW E 64 056502

兺 冑 k ␭ V 关 a ␭ êe i(k z⫺ ␻ t) ⫹c.c.兴 ,

M where the primes indicate coordinates in the frame moving at
2 ␲ cប
ជ L⫽
A ␭ ␭ 共A2兲 ␤ f , and
␭⫽1

k̄ ␭ ⫽k ␭⬘ ⫹k u⬘ ⫽ ␥ f 关 k u ⫹k ␭ ⫺ ␤ f 共 k ␭ ⫺ ␻ u /c 兲兴
冑 2 ␲ cប
Aជ u ⫽
k uV
关 a u êe ⫺i(k u z⫹ ␻ u t) ⫹c.c.兴 ,

where ␻ ␭ ⫽k ␭ c is the frequency of the radiation mode with

共A3兲
⫽k̄ r ⫹k r⬘ 冉 k ␭ ⫺k r
kr
, 冊 共A8兲

index ␭. If the undulator is magnetostatic then k u ⫽2 ␲ /␭ u ¯ ␭ ⫽ ␻ ␭⬘ ⫺ ␻ u⬘ ⫽ ␥ f 关 ck ␭ 共 1⫺ ␤ f 兲 ⫺ ␻ u ⫺ck u ␤ f 兴

␻
and ␻ u ⫽0, where ␭ u is the undulator wavelength. If the
undulator is electromagnetic 共e.g., optical laser pulse兲, then
␻ u ⫽k u c⫽2 ␲ c/␭ u . Here a ␭ and a u are the complex ampli-
tudes of the fields, which are contained in the volume V. For
⫽ ␻ r⬘ 冉 k ␭ ⫺k r
kr
. 冊 共A9兲

definiteness, both the laser and undulator fields are assumed

Here k̄ r ⫽(k r ⫹k u )/ ␥ 储 ⯝ 冑2k r (k u ⫹ ␻ u /c). Note that, for a
to be circularly polarized 共i.e., helical undulator兲 such that
conventional magnetostatic undulator, ␻ u ⫽0, and for an
ê⫽(x̂⫹iŷ)/ 冑2. We will assume that diffraction effects are electromagnetic undulator ␻ u ⫽k u c.
small, and therefore, the fields can be described by plane
wave solutions.
2. Strong undulator regime
We consider an electron beam that is initially injected into
the undulator in the axial ẑ direction. The transverse canoni- We will consider the case where the number of undulator
cal momentum P ជ ⬜ j is a constant of motion; therefore P
ជ j •Aជ photons is much greater than the number of laser photons. In
⫽0, and the Hamiltonian 关Eq. 共A1兲兴 reduces to particular we assume that

Ne e 2兩 A L兩 2 e2 e 2兩 A u兩 2
H⫽ 兺冑
j⫽1
ជ u ⫹Aជ L 兲 2 ,
m 2e c 4 ⫹p 2j c 2 ⫹e 2 共 A 共A4兲 m 2e c 4
Ⰶ
m 2e c 4
兩 A L 兩兩 A u 兩 Ⰶ
m 2e c 4
⫽K 2 ⬃1, 共A10兲

where p j is the axial electron momentum. where K is the undulator strength parameter. Operational
FEL’s based on conventional magnetostatic undulators will
1. Electron beam rest frame typically have undulator strength parameters of order K⬃1.
Present high-intensity laser pulses have the capability to pro-
In the laboratory frame, the relativistic electron beam is duce even larger normalized vector potentials, Kⲏ1. There-
moving along the direction of propagation of the radiation fore, Eq. 共A10兲 will be satisfied for most FEL devices being
field, with axial velocity ␤ 储 c. The equivalence between mag- considered.
netostatic undulators and electromagnetic undulators can The Hamiltonian 关Eq. 共A4兲兴 may be expressed as
easily be seen in the frame moving with the electron beam.
For an ultrarelativistic electron beam ( ␤ 储 ⯝1), both the mag- Ne
netostatic and electromagnetic undulators appear as counter- H⫽ 兺
j⫽1
ជ L •Aជ u ⫹Aជ u •Aជ L 兲 ⫹e 2 Aជ L2 兴 1/2,
关 m 2 c 4 ⫹ p 2j c 2 ⫹e 2 共 A
propagating electromagnetic waves in the electron beam rest
frame. 共A11兲
We consider a Lorentz transformation to a frame moving
where m is the renormalized mass:
with velocity

冉
␤ f ⫽ 1⫺
␻u
␻r 冊冉 冊
1⫹
ku
kr
⫺1
共A5兲
m⫽m e 冑1⫹K 2 ⫽m e ␥⬜ .

Here ␥⬜ ⫽ 冑1⫹K 2 is the Lorentz factor associated with the

共A12兲

quiver motion of the electrons due to the transverse undula-

in the ẑ direction with respect to the laboratory frame. We
tor field, and the total beam energy is m e c 2 ␥ ⫽m e c 2 ␥ 储 ␥⬜
will assume k r Ⰷk u in the laboratory frame. The resonant
⫽mc 2 ␥ 储 . With the assumption of Eq. 共A10兲, we may ne-
frequency ␻ r ⫽k r c is defined with respect to the energy of
glect the term quadratic in the laser vector potential. Substi-
the electron beam such that
tuting the vector potentials 关Eqs. 共A2兲 and 共A3兲兴 into the
␻ r ⫽2 共 ck u ⫹ ␻ u 兲 ␥ 2储 , 共A6兲 Hamiltonian yields

where ␥ 储 ⫽(1⫺ ␤ 2储 ) ⫺1/2 is the Lorentz factor owing to the

axial velocity of the electron beam. With the definition of the
resonant frequency 关Eq. 共A6兲兴, the frame moving at ␤ f is the
H⫽mc 2 兺
j⫽1
Ne

冋 1⫹
p 2j
m 2c 2
electron beam rest frame.
In this frame, the FEL phase becomes ⫹ 兺
M

␭⫽1
2បg ␭
mc 2
共 a ␭ a u* e i[(k ␭ ⫹k u )z j ⫺( ␻ ␭ ⫺ ␻ u )t]
⫹c.c.兲 册 1/2

共 k u ⫹k ␭ 兲 z j ⫺ 共 ␻ ␭ ⫺ ␻ u 兲 t⫽k̄ ␭ z ⬘j ⫺ ␻
¯ ␭t ⬘, 共A7兲 共A13兲

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where the strength of the coupling between the undulator and time since the Hamiltonian is Hermitian. In Eq. 共A17兲 we
radiation field is determined by the parameter assume that the number of undulator photons is large
具 a †u a u 典 Ⰷ1, and we treat the undulator field classically 共i.e.,
2␲e2 there exists an infinite reservoir of undulator photons to scat-
g ␭⫽ . 共A14兲
mcV 冑k ␭ k u ter into laser photons兲. This approximation is justified pro-
vided the number of undulator photons is nearly unaffected
In the electron beam rest frame and assuming Eq. 共A10兲, by the interaction 共photon exchange兲, which is satisfied for
the interaction Hamiltonian becomes 具 a †u a u 典 Ⰷ 具 a ␭† a ␭ 典 . Equation 共A17兲 is the Hamiltonian operator

冉 冊
used in the main body of this work.
p ⬘j 2
Ne M Ne
In this work it is also assumed that the wave functions of
H⫽ 兺
j⫽1 2m
⫹ 兺
␭⫽1
បg ␭ a ␭ a *
u 兺
j⫽1
e i(k̄ ␭ z ⬘j ⫺ ␻ ␭ t ⬘ ) ⫹c.c. .
¯
the electrons no not overlap and they may be treated as dis-
共A15兲 tinguishable particles, i.e., the number of available states is
much larger than the number of electrons, and therefore there
Note that the condition 关 e 2 兩 A L 兩兩 A u 兩 /(m 2e c 4 ) 兴 Ⰶ1 may be ex- will be no degeneracy in the electron beam wave function.
pressed as 兩 a ␭ 兩 2 /N e Ⰶ1/( ␳ 4 q ␭ ), where q ␭ and ␳ are given by This will be valid provided the phase space volume of the
Eqs. 共13兲 and 共14兲, respectively. This condition will always electrons is sufficiently dilute, i.e., ␧ 储 ␧⬜2 ⬎N e ␭ 3c , where ␧ 储
be well satisfied provided ␳ Ⰶ1, since the FEL process satu- and ␧⬜ are the normalized longitudinal and transverse emit-
rates at 兩 a ␭ 兩 2 ⬃N e q ␭⫺1 . tance of the electron beam, respectively, and ␭ c is the Comp-
In addition, we can consider a canonical transformation to ton wavelength. The effects of electron beam wave function
remove the time dependency in the Hamiltonian. Using an degeneracy on the FEL process were considered by Kim
action-angle generating function the Hamiltonian becomes 关21兴.

H⫽ 兺
M

␭⫽1
ប␻
1
¯ ␭ 共 a ␭* a ␭ ⫹a ␭ a ␭* 兲 ⫹
2
e
p ⬘j 2
j⫽1 2m
N

兺 冋 3. Weak undulator regime

For the case of a weak undulator field, the laser and un-

⫹ 兺
␭⫽1
M

បg ␭ 共 a ␭ a u* e i ␪ ␭ j ⫹c.c.兲 , 册 共A16兲
dulator fields satisfy e 2 兩 A L 兩 2 /m 2e c 4 Ⰶ1 and e 2 兩 A u 兩 2 /m 2e c 4
⫽K 2 Ⰶ1. In this regime we cannot approximate the number
of undulator photons as constant. In the electron beam rest
frame, the Hermitian Hamiltonian operator describing the
where the phase is ␪ ␭ j ⫽k̄ ␭ z ⬘j . multimode FEL process in the weak undulator regime is
We will construct a quantum Hamiltonian operator from
p ⬘j 2
冉 冊
Ne M
the classical Hamiltonian through the Dirac prescription for 1
quantization: the quantum Hamiltonian is assumed to have H⫽ 兺
j⫽1 2m e
⫹បg uu
(w)
a †u a u ⫹
2
⫹
␭⫽1
ប共 ␻兺
¯ ␭ ⫹g ␭␭
(w)
兲
the form of the classical Hamiltonian according to the corre-
spondence principle, and the canonical dynamical variables
are associated with Hilbert space operators. The Hermitian
Hamiltonian describing the multimode FEL process is
⫻ 冉 a ␭† a ␭ ⫹
1
2 冊
⫹ 兺
␭⫽1
M

បg ␭u
(w)
a ␭† a u
1
Ne 冉 兺
Ne

j⫽1
e ⫺i ␪ ␭ j ⫹H.c. 冊
H⫽
M

兺 ប ␻¯ ␭
␭⫽1
冉 1
a ␭† a ␭ ⫹ ⫹
2 冊e

j⫽1
ប⍀
p̄ 2j
2 兺
N
⫹
M

兺 兺
␭⫽1 ␯ ⬎␭
បg ␭(w)
␯ 冉 a ␭ a †␯
1
Ne 兺
j⫽1
Ne

冊
e i( ␪ ␭ j ⫺ ␪ ␯ j ) ⫹H.c. .

冉 冊
M Ne
共A20兲
⫹
␭⫽1
兺 បg ␭ a ␭† a u 兺
j⫽1
e ⫺i ␪ ␭ j
⫹H.c. . 共A17兲
The coupling between the fields is determined by the param-
eter
Here ⍀⫽បk̄ r2 /m determines the strength of the electron re-
coil, and p̄ j ⫽p ⬘j /(បk̄ r ) is the electron axial momentum nor- ␻ 2p
malized to the recoil provided by a photon exchange between ␯ ⫽
g ␭(w) , 共A21兲
the undulator and the resonant laser. The operators satisfy 2c 冑k ␭ k ␯
the commutation relations
where ␻ 2p ⫽4 ␲ (N e /V)e 2 /m e is the plasma frequency of the
k̄ ␭ electron beam. Here we have quantized the undulator field,
关 ␪ ␭i , p̄ j 兴 ⫽i ␦ij , 共A18兲
k̄ r and the undulator creation a †u and annihilation a u operators
obey the usual commutation relation 关 a u ,a †u 兴 ⫽1. In addition
关 a ␭ ,a ␮† 兴 ⫽ ␦ ␭ ␮ 共A19兲 to the laser-undulator interaction, the Hamiltonian operator
also describes the interaction between laser modes through
for the phase and momentum operators and the non- the last term on the right-hand side of Eq. 共A20兲.
Hermitian photon annihilation a ␭ and creation a ␭† operators. The Hamiltonian contains the following conservation
Note that these commutation relations are satisfied for all laws: the total 共undulator and laser兲 photon number operator

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C. B. SCHROEDER, C. PELLEGRINI, AND P. CHEN PHYSICAL REVIEW E 64 056502

冋 a †u a u ⫹
M

兺
␭⫽1
a ␭† a ␭ , 册
H ⫽0, 共A22兲 冋兺Ne

j⫽1
p ⬘j ⫺បk u⬘ a †u a u ⫹
M

兺
␭⫽1
册
បk ␭⬘ a ␭† a ␭ , H ⫽0. 共A24兲

and the total linear 共photon and electron兲 momentum opera-

tor The physical interpretation of Eqs. 共A22兲–共A24兲 is clear; the

冋兺Ne

j⫽1
p ⬘j ⫹
M

兺
␭⫽1
册
បk̄ ␭ a ␭† a ␭ , H ⫽0. 共A23兲
FEL interaction consists of the annihilation 共creation兲 of an
undulator photon and the creation 共annihilation兲 of a laser
photon, with the necessary momentum provided by the recoil
Equations 共A22兲 and 共A23兲 can be combined to yield of the electrons.

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