Energy phase correlation and pulse dynamics in short bunch high gain FELs

Abstract: We analyze the dynamics of Free Electron Laser (FEL) devices, operating with a bunched beam exhibiting a longitudinal phase space correlation. We show that the presence of an energy-position correlation term is responsible for very interesting effects like an enhancement of the peak output power, a shortening of the laser pulses and an increase of the non linearly generated harmonic intensities. We conjecture that the mechanism is due to a kind of energy tapering effect associated with the correlation. We discuss the difference of the dynamics with respect to an ordinary undulator tapering and the relative advantages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]