Spectral brilliance of channeling radiation at the ASTA photoinjector

Abstract

We study channeling radiation from electron beams with energies under 100 MeV. We introduce a phenomenological model of dechanneling, correct nonradiative transition rates from thermal scattering, and discuss in detail the population dynamics in low-order bound states. These are used to revisit the X-ray properties measured at the ELBE facility in Forschungszentrum Dresden–Rosenstock (FZDR), extract parameters for dechanneling states, and obtain satisfactory agreement with measured photon yields. The importance of rechanneling phenomena in thick crystals is emphasized. The model is then used to calculate the expected X-ray energies, linewidths and brilliance for forthcoming channeling radiation experiments at Fermilab's ASTA photoinjector.