Harmonic operation of a free-electron laser

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Abstract
Harmonic operation of a free-electron-laser amplifier is studied. The key issue investigated here is suppression of the fundamental. For a tapered amplifier with the right choice of parameters, it is found that the presence of the harmonic mode greatly reduces the growth rate of the fundamental. A limit on the reflection coefficient of the fundamental mode that will ensure stable operation is derived. The relative merits of tripling the frequency by operating at the third harmonic versus decreasing the wiggler period by a factor of 3 are discussed.