Characterization of coherent THz radiation bursting regime at Elettra

Coherent Terahertz radiation has been observed in the third generation synchrotron light source Elettra. The radiation emitted in bursts shows a wavelength distribution shorter than the nominal electronic bunch length suggesting that the microscopic emission mechanism is due to the beam instabilities. In this paper we discuss the effects of the instabilities and present preliminary spectroscopic measurements. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.