The SPARC linear accelerator based terahertz source

Ultra-short electron beams, produced through the velocity bunching compression technique, are used to drive the SPARC linear accelerator based source, which relies on the emission of coherent transition radiation in the terahertz range. This paper reports on the main features of this radiation, as terahertz source, with spectral coverage up to 5 THz and pulse duration down to 200 fs, with an energy per pulse of the order of several micro-joule, and as electron beam longitudinal diagnostics. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4794014]