Coherent synchrotron radiation by excitation of surface plasmon polariton on near-critical solid microtube surface

Abstract: Coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) is vital for developing powerful ultrashort light sources. We introduce a CSR generation mechanism using surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) resonantly excited on a solid, near-critical-density microtube. A high-intensity, circularly polarised laser pulse, propagating along the microtube axis, efficiently couples the cylindrical SPP modes. This process creates azimuthally structured, rotating electromagnetic fields. These rotating fields subsequently confine, modulate, and directly accelerate surface electrons, causing them to emit CSR in the Valilov-Cherenkov angle. We further demonstrate that by improving the azimuthal symmetry, the helical modulation enables CSR emission across all azimuthal directions, significantly enhancing radiation intensity even when full coherence is imperfect. The harmonics can be well isolated for a high charge beam. Our full 3D Particle-in-Cell simulations indicate this scheme can generate X-rays with coherence enhanced by up to two orders of magnitude compared to incoherent emission.