Topical Review

Crystal-based intensive gamma-ray light sources

MBN Research Center, Altenhöferallee 3, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

^a e-mail: solovyov@mbnresearch.com

Received: 23 April 2020
Received in final form: 13 August 2020
Accepted: 18 August 2020
Published online: 1 October 2020

Abstract

We discuss design and practical realization of novel gamma-ray Crystal-based Light Sources (CLS) that can be constructed through exposure of oriented crystals (linear, bent, periodically bent) to beams of ultrarelativistic charged particles. In an exemplary case study, we estimate brilliance of radiation emitted in a Crystalline Undulator (CU) LS by available positron beams. Intensity of CU radiation in the photon energy range 10⁰ − 10¹ MeV, which is inaccessible to conventional synchrotrons, undulators and XFELs, greatly exceeds that of laser-Compton scattering LSs and can be higher than predicted in the Gamma Factory proposal to CERN. Brilliance of CU-LSs can be boosted by up to 8 orders of magnitude through the process of superradiance by a pre-bunched beam. Construction of novel CLSs is a challenging task which constitutes a highly interdisciplinary field entangling a broad range of correlated activities. CLSs provide a low-cost alternative to conventional LSs and have enormous number of applications.