A new kind of high power tunable microwave radiation source is studied
theoretically and experimentally. Following the previous works presented
by Dorranian et al. (2003, 2004) in this paper more details about the radiation
is presented. The theory of the radiation is developed to calculate the
radiation spatial distribution, and more discussion on radiation behavior
and characteristics is done. In this radiation scheme, a part of large
amplitude electrostatic plasma wake, generated by an intense laser pulse
or a relativistic electron bunch, are converted to electromagnetic
oscillations by applying a modest dc magnetic field perpendicular to the
wake propagation direction. A direct one-dimensional (1D) analytic
procedure for calculating the magnetized plasma wake equations is
developed and the properties of the radiation are investigated
theoretically. The effects of the ramp plasma-vacuum boundary in coupling
the radiation from plasma to vacuum is noticed and solved by employing a
gas jet flow to generate a sharp boundary. Wakefield is excited by TW-100
fs Ti:sapphire laser beam operating at 800 nm wavelength. The neutral
density of gas jet flow is measured with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.
The frequency of the emitted radiation with the pulse width of 200 ps
(detection limitation) is in the millimeter wave range. Radiation is
polarized perpendicularly to the dc magnetic field lines and propagates in
the forward direction and normal direction with respect to the laser pulse
propagation direction, both perpendiculars to the direction of the applied
magnetic field. Intensity of the radiation in different plasma densities
and different magnetic field strengths has been observed.