Monochromaticity of coherent Smith-Purcell radiation from finite size grating

Investigation of coherent Smith-Purcell radiation (SPR) spectral characteristics was performed both experimentally and by numerical simulation. The measurement of SPR spectral line shapes of different diffraction orders was carried out at the KEK LUCX facility. A pair of room-temperature Schottky barrier diode (SBD) detectors with sensitivity bands of 60–90 GHz and 320–460 GHz was used in the measurements. Reasonable agreement of experimental results and simulations performed with CST Studio Suite justifies the use of different narrow-band SBD detectors to investigate different SPR diffraction orders. It was shown that monochromaticity of the SPR spectral lines increases with diffraction order. The comparison of coherent transition radiation and coherent SPR intensities in sub-THz frequency range showed that the brightnesses of both radiation mechanisms were comparable. A fine tuning feasibility of the SPR spectral lines is discussed.