High Efficiency Energy Extraction from a Relativistic Electron Beam in a Strongly Tapered Undulator

We present results of an experiment where, using a 200 GW CO_{2} laser seed, a 65 MeV electron beam was decelerated down to 35 MeV in a 54-cm-long strongly tapered helical magnetic undulator, extracting over 30% of the initial electron beam energy to coherent radiation. These results, supported by simulations of the radiation field evolution, demonstrate unparalleled electro-optical conversion efficiencies for a relativistic beam in an undulator field and represent an important step in the development of high peak and average power coherent radiation sources.