Stimulated Electromagnetic Shock Radiation

We consider a basically new effect that to our knowledge has not as yet been observed, only calculated (1,2,3). It involves the production of frequency shifted narrowband electromagnetic radiation by the scattering, in a suitable medium, of coherent electromagnetic waves from relativistic charged particles. The frequency of the scattered wave can be either upshifted or downshifted relative to that of the incident wave. Only the upward shift is considered here; the down shift will be covered in the following paper (4). We first argue that the effect is to be expected on very general physical grounds and then present the solution to Maxwell's equations for a model that exhibits its salient features.