Maximizing Smith-Purcell radiation intensity via multi-parameter optimization

Abstract

Smith Purcell radiation offers a versatile platform for terahertz light matter interactions and compact source development, with intensity enhancement as a key priority. Using particle in cell simulations across a duty cycle range of from 0.1 to 0.9 at 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6 THz, we optimize the grating period, electron kinetic energy and duty cycle. The intensity exhibits a unimodal dependence on the grating period at all three frequencies, with peak enhancements of 96, 34, and 17.5 fold relative to our reference baseline . The optimal duty cycle shifts from 0.2 to 0.4 with increasing frequency, a trend arising from the trade off between coherent superposition and beam-wave coupling under fixed length conditions. These results provide systematic design guidelines for compact tabletop terahertz sources.