Spectral analysis of the nonlinear relativistic Doppler shift in ultrahigh intensity Compton scattering

Narrow Bandwidth Gamma Comb from Nonlinear Compton Scattering Using the Polarization Gating Technique

Nonlinear Compton scattering is a promising source of bright gamma rays. Using readily available intense laser pulses to scatter off the energetic electrons, on the one hand, allows us to significantly increase the total photon yield, but on the other hand, leads to a dramatic spectral broadening of the fundamental emission line as well as its harmonics due to the laser pulse shape induced ponderomotive effects. In this Letter we propose to avoid ponderomotive broadening in harmonics by using the polarization gating technique-a well-known method to construct a laser pulse with temporally varying polarization. We show that by restricting harmonic emission only to the region near the peak of the pulse, where the polarization is linear, it is possible to generate a bright narrow bandwidth comb in the gamma region.

Optimizing Laser Pulses for Narrow-Band Inverse Compton Sources in the High-Intensity Regime

Scattering of ultraintense short laser pulses off relativistic electrons allows one to generate a large number of X- or gamma-ray photons with the expense of the spectral width-temporal pulsing of the laser inevitable leads to considerable spectral broadening. In this Letter, we describe a simple method to generate optimized laser pulses that compensate the nonlinear spectrum broadening and can be thought of as a superposition of two oppositely linearly chirped pulses delayed with respect to each other. We develop a simple analytical model that allows us to predict the optimal parameters of such a two-pulse-the delay, amount of chirp, and relative phase-for generation of a narrow-band γ-ray spectrum. Our predictions are confirmed by numerical optimization and simulations including three-dimensional effects.

Higher-Dimensional Caustics in Nonlinear Compton Scattering

A description of the spectral and angular distributions of Compton scattered light in collisions of intense laser pulses with high-energy electrons is unwieldy and usually requires numerical simulations. However, due to the large number of parameters affecting the spectra such numerical investigations can become computationally expensive. Using methods of catastrophe theory we predict higher-dimensional caustics in the spectra of the Compton scattered light, which are associated with bright narrow-band spectral lines, and in the simplest case can be controlled by the value of the linear chirp of the pulse. These findings require no full-scale calculations and have direct consequences for the photon yield enhancement of future nonlinear Compton scattering x-ray or gamma-ray sources.

Nonlinear brightness optimization in compton scattering

In Compton scattering light sources, a laser pulse is scattered by a relativistic electron beam to generate tunable x and gamma rays. Because of the inhomogeneous nature of the incident radiation, the relativistic Lorentz boost of the electrons is modulated by the ponderomotive force during the interaction, leading to intrinsic spectral broadening and brightness limitations. These effects are discussed, along with an optimization strategy to properly balance the laser bandwidth, diffraction, and nonlinear ponderomotive force.

Low-intensity nonlinear spectral effects in compton scattering

Nonlinear effects are known to occur in Compton scattering light sources, when the laser normalized potential A approaches unity. In this Letter, it is shown that nonlinear spectral features can appear at arbitrarily low values of A, if the fractional bandwidth of the laser pulse Δϕ⁻¹ is sufficiently small to satisfy A²Δϕ≃1. A three-dimensional analysis, based on a local plane wave, slow-varying envelope approximation, enables the study of these effects for realistic interactions between an electron beam and a laser pulse, and their influence on high-precision Compton scattering light sources.

Classical theory of Compton scattering: assessing the validity of the Dirac-Lorentz equation

The Dirac-Lorentz equation describes the dynamics of a classical point charge in an electromagnetic field, accounting for radiative effects in a manifestly covariant and gauge-invariant manner. The validity of this equation is assessed by direct comparison between the Dirac-Lorentz dynamics of an electron subjected to a plane wave in vacuum and the well-known recoil associated with Compton scattering. In the small recoil limit, the classical Dirac-Lorentz is shown to yield the correct momentum transfer. For larger values of the recoil, the quantum scale appears explicitly, and the classical Dirac-Lorentz equation does not properly model this situation, as shown by deriving an exact analytical solution for a monochromatic plane wave of wave number k0 to any order in k0r0, where r0 is the classical electron radius.

Thomson scattering and ponderomotive intermodulation within standing laser beat waves in plasma

Electrons in a standing electromagnetic wave--an optical lattice--tend to oscillate due to the quiver and ponderomotive potentials. For sufficiently intense laser fields (Ilamda2 approximately < or = 5 x 10(17) W cm(-2) microm2) and in plasmas with sufficiently low electron densities (n approximately < or = 10(18) cm(-3)), these oscillations can occur faster than the plasma can respond. This paper shows that these oscillations result in Thomson scattering of light at both the laser and ponderomotive bounce frequencies and their harmonics as well as at mixtures of these frequencies. We term this mixing ponderomotive intermodulation. Here, the case of counterpropagating laser beams creating a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice is analyzed. The near-equilibrium electron orbits and subsequent Thomson scattering patterns are computed in the single-particle limit. Scaling laws are derived to quantify the range of validity of this approach. Finally, collective plasma and laser focusing effects are included by using particle-in-cell (PIC) techniques. This effect resulting in light-frequency conversion has applications both as an infrared light source and as a means to diagnose high laser intensities inside dense plasmas.

Relativistic electron dynamics in intense crossed laser beams: acceleration and Compton harmonics

Electron motion and harmonic generation are investigated in the crossed-beam laser-accelerator scheme in a vacuum. Exact solutions of the equations of motion of the electron in plane-wave fields are given, subject to a restricted set of initial conditions. The trajectory solutions corresponding to axial injection are used to calculate precise emission spectra. Guided by hindsight from the analytic investigations, numerical calculations are then performed employing a Gaussian-beam representation of the fields in which terms of order epsilon(5), where epsilon is the diffraction angle, are retained. Present-day laser powers and initial conditions on the electron motion that simulate realistic laboratory conditions are used in the calculations. The analytic plane-wave work shows, and the numerical investigations confirm, that an optimal crossing angle exists, i.e., one that renders the electron energy gain a maximum for a particular set of parameters. Furthermore, the restriction to small crossing angles is not made anywhere. It is also shown that energy gains of a few GeV and energy gradients of several TeV/m may be obtained using petawatt power laser beams.

Three-dimensional theory of emittance in Compton scattering and x-ray protein crystallography

A complete, three-dimensional theory of Compton scattering is described, which fully takes into account the effects of the electron beam emittance and energy spread upon the scattered x-ray spectral brightness. The radiation scattered by an electron subjected to an arbitrary electromagnetic field distribution in vacuum is first derived in the linear regime, and in the absence of radiative corrections; it is found that each vacuum eigenmode gives rise to a single Doppler-shifted classical dipole excitation. This formalism is then applied to Compton scattering in a three-dimensional laser focus, and yields a complete description of the influence of the electron beam phase-space topology on the x-ray spectral brightness; analytical expressions including the effects of emittance and energy spread are also obtained in the one-dimensional limit. Within this framework, the x-ray brightness generated by a 25 MeV electron beam is modeled, fully taking into account the beam emittance and energy spread, as well as the three-dimensional nature of the laser focus; its application to x-ray protein crystallography is outlined. Finally, coherence, harmonics, and radiative corrections are also briefly discussed.