Smith-Purcell radiation from a charge moving above a finite-length grating

Smith-Purcell radiation (SPR), generated by an electron beam traveling above a grating, is characterized by a broad range of frequencies. The radiated wavelength depends on the angle of observation according to the SPR resonance relationship and the bandwidth is inversely proportional to the number of the grating grooves. A rigorous theoretical model of SPR from a three-dimensional bunch of relativistic electrons passing above a grating of finite length is presented by an electric-field integral equation method. The finite-length grating results are compared with the case of an infinitely long grating assumption in which periodic boundary conditions are rigorously applied and with a model based on the image-charge approximation. The SPR resonance relationship is the same in all three formalisms. Significant errors in the strength of the radiated energy are introduced by the two approximations. In particular, for gratings with less than ~20 periods, the image-charge approximation and the infinitely long grating assumption result in an order of magnitude too high and too low radiated energy per groove, respectively, in the plane transverse to the grating groove lines. Numerical examples are calculated for an ~18 MeV bunch traveling above different finite-length gratings with a period of 2.5 mm.