Channeling of positrons through periodically bent crystals: On the feasibility of crystalline undulator and gamma-laser

The electromagnetic radiation generated by ultra-relativistic positrons channeling in a crystalline undulator is discussed. The crystalline undulator is a crystal whose planes are bent periodically with, the amplitude much larger than the interplanar spacing. Various conditions and criteria to be fulfilled for the crystalline undulator operation are established. Different methods of crystal bending are described. We present the results of numeric calculations of spectral distributions of the spontaneous radiation emitted in the crystalline undulator and discuss the possibility to create the stimulated emission in such a system in analogy with the free electron laser. A careful literature survey covering the formulation of all essential ideas in this field is given. Our investigation shows that the proposed mechanism provides an efficient source for high energy photons, which is worth studying experimentally.