Characterization of coherent Cherenkov radiation source

Engineering formulae for calculation of peak, and spectral brightness of resonant long-range wakefield extractor are given. It is shown that the brightness is dominated by beam density in the slow wave structure and antenna gain of the outcoupling. Far field radiation patterns and brightness of circular and high aspect ratio planar radiators are compared. A possibility to approach diffraction limited brightness is demonstrated. The role of group velocity in designing of the Cherenkov source is analyzed. The approach can be applied for design and characterization of various structure-dominated sources (e.g., wakefield extractors with gratings or dielectrics, or FEL-Cherenkov combined sources) radiating into a free space using an antenna (in microwave to sub-mm wave regions). The high group velocity structures can be also effective as energy dechirpers and for diagnostics of microbunched relativistic electron beams.