First observation of the inverse Smith-Purcell effect

The inverse Smith-Purcell effect, which is one of the candidates for laser-driven linacs with a metallic grating as an interaction circuit to produce acceleration gradient of a few GeV/m, has first been demonstrated since its proposal in 1975. In this paper, we describe the theoretical analyses on this effect and also its first experimental evidence by using a submillimeter-wave laser as a driving source. The experimental results give good agreement with the theoretical predictions.