Exotic radiation from a photonic crystal excited by an ultrarelativistic electron beam.

We report the observation of an exotic radiation (unconventional Smith-Purcell radiation) from a one-dimensional photonic crystal. The physical origin of the exotic radiation is direct excitation of the photonic bands by an ultrarelativistic electron beam. The spectrum of the exotic radiation follows photonic bands of a certain parity, in striking contrast to the conventional Smith-Purcell radiation, which shows solely a linear dispersion. Key ingredients for the observation are the facts that the electron beam is in an ultrarelativistic region and that the photonic crystal is finite. The origin of the radiation was identified by comparison of experimental and theoretical results.

Observation of millimeter-wave radiation generated by the interaction between an electron beam and a photonic crystal.

We observed directional light emission in the millimeter-wave region when a high-energy (150 MeV) electron beam passes just above a photonic crystal made of polytetrafluoroethylene beads ( approximately 3.2 mm in diameter). The relation between the momentum and the energy of the emitted photons strongly suggests that the observed light is generated by the umklapp scattering process that changes the evanescent waves emitted by the electron beam into observable ones. By comparing the observed spectra with calculated ones based on the photonic band structure, we found that generated photons excite the photonic band modes making them observable as enhanced fine structures in the emission spectra.

Construction of 714 MHz HOM-free accelerating cavities.

A new 'higher-order-mode (HOM)-free' accelerating cavity has been developed which can provide an accelerating voltage of more than 400 kV per cavity at a frequency of 714 MHz. The harmful HOMs in the cavities, which can induce beam instabilities at high beam currents, were heavily damped by using four special waveguide ports and broadband microwave loads. Two cavities of this design were installed in the 1.54 GeV accelerator test facility (ATF) damping ring at KEK, and successfully stored beams. This cavity will also be very useful for synchrotron light sources. The basic design, characteristics of HOMs and construction of this cavity are reported.