Current models of the effect of spontaneous emission on the electron beam dynamics neglect the discreteness of electron recoil associated with photon emission. We present a novel, one-dimensional model of the effect of spontaneous emission on the ele
ctron beam dynamics in an undulator both in the classical regime where discrete electron recoil is negligible, and the quantum regime where it is significant. It is shown that in the classical regime, continuous decrease of the average electron energy and diffusive growth of the electron energy spread occurs, in agreement with previous classical models. In the quantum regime, it is shown that the evolution of the electron momentum distribution occurs as discrete momentum groups according to a Poisson distribution. The narrow momentum features of the quantum regime may be useful for generation of coherent radiation, which relies on electron beams having sufficiently narrow momentum/energy distributions.
Using the Madelung transformation we show that in a quantum Free Electron Laser (QFEL) the beam obeys the equations of a quantum fluid in which the potential is the classical potential plus a quantum potential. The classical limit is shown explicitly.
