Free Electron Laser Physical Process Code (FELPPC)

Even at the conceptual level, the strong coupling between subsystem elements complicates the understanding and design of a free electron laser (FEL). Given the requirements for high- performance FELs, the coupling between subsystems must be included to obtain a realistic picture of the potential operational capability. The concept of an Integrated Numerical Experiment (INEX) was implemented to accurately calculate the coupling between the FEL subsystems. During the late 1980's, the INEX approach was successfully applied to a large number of accelerator and FEL experiments. Unfortunately, because of significant manpower and computational requirements, the integrated approach is difficult to apply to trade-off and initial design studies. However, the INEX codes provided a base from which realistic accelerator, wiggler interaction, optics, and control models could be developed. The Free Electron Laser Physical Process Code (FELPPC) includes models developed from the INEX codes, provides coupling between the subsystem models, and incorporates application models relevant to a specific study. In other words, FELPPC solves the complete physical process model using realistic physics and technology constraints. FELPPC can calculate complex FEL configurations including multiple accelerator and wiggler combinations. When compared with the INEX codes, the subsystem models have been found to be quite accurate over many orders-of-magnitude. As a result, FELPPC has been used for the initial design studies of a large number of FEL applications: high-average-power ground, space, plane, and ship based FELs; beacon and illuminator FELs; medical and compact FELs; and XUV FELs.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.