High-intensity far-infrared light source using the coherent transition radiation from a short electron bunch

The characteristics of the far-infrared coherent transition radiation light source used for absorption spectroscopy have been investigated. A single-bunch electron beam of an L-band linear accelerator has been used in the experiments. The energy and the electron charge in a bunch of the beam have been 27 MeV and 13.5 nC/bunch, respectively. The accelerator has been operated to obtain high-intensity radiation. The spectrum of the coherent transition radiation from the beam has been measured at wavelengths of 0.4–2 mm and the electron bunch form factor has been given from the spectrum. For the typical geometrical configurations of the light source the light spectrum has been obtained by using the bunch form factor. The characteristics of the light source have been compared with those of the coherent synchrotron radiation.