Abstract

A crucial element in the design of a free-electron laser (FEL) experiment is the comparison between the rise time of the laser power in the cavity and the duration of the electron macropulse. One wants the shortest possible rise time to allow the laser field to reach saturation and the largest output optical power during the electron macropulse. To achieve these results, a detailed understanding of the start-up of the laser is needed. There are several sources of noise that affect the laser time, some of which are spontaneous emission and electron shot noise.¹ In this work we restrict ourselves to the spontaneous emission contribution.

© 1987 Optical Society of America