High energy Free Electron Laser for nuclear applications

The capability of Free-Electron Lasers to generate photon beams with record performances in the domain of MeV-class photon energy for nuclear photonics applications is here analyzed. We discuss possible nuclear FEL working points. Some typical situations are presented and simulated by means of the three-dimensional code GENESIS 1.3. The losses by spontaneous emission and by wakefield induced energy spread are then evaluated. The calculations show the possibility of generating FEL radiation at 1-4 MeV with less than 300 eV of bandwidth with not prohibitive set up requirements, achieving therefore regimes where no other kind of gamma ray sources could arrive.