The bremsstrahlung emitted as a result of scattering electrons in thin diamond crystals provides a useful source of high-energy photons for use in photonuclear experiments, since the coherent bremsstrahlung produced is linearly polarized. Techniques for selecting the most favourable diamonds have been investigated. These are optical polaroid analysis, X-ray topography and rocking curve measurements. The diamonds are characterized with a view to determining their performance as radiators, and bremsstrahlung spectra from a radiator used at the Mainz MAMI-B facility are presented. The changes caused by high-energy electrons to the crystal properties of the diamond and to the resulting coherent bremsstrahlung spectra are discussed
list of authors: J.D. Kellie, P.J.M. Clive, G.L. Yang, R. Beck, C. Gordon, C. Hall, J.W. Harris, R.T. Jones, D. Laundy, K. Livingston, I.J.D. MacGregor, J.C. McGeorge, J. Malone, A. Schmidt, P.A. Slaven, R.M. Vrcelj, D. Watts.
