A bright attosecond x-ray pulse train generation in a double-laser-driven cone target

Abstract

By using full three-dimensional particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the generation of a high-brightness attosecond x-ray pulse train in a double-laser-driven cone target. The scheme makes use of two lasers: the first high-intensity laser with a laser peak intensity 1.37 × 1020 W/cm2 irradiates the cone and produces overdense attosecond electron bunches; the second counterpropagating weakly relativistic laser with a laser peak intensity 4.932 × 1017 W/cm2 interacts with the produced electron bunches and a bright x-ray pulse train is generated by Thomson backscattering of the second laser off the attosecond electron bunches. It is shown that the photon flux rises by 5 times using the cone target as compared with a normal channel. Meanwhile, the x-ray peak brightness increases significantly from 1.4 × 1021/(s mm2 mrad2 0.1 keV) to 6.0 × 1021/(s mm2 mrad2 0.1 keV), which is much higher than that of the Thomson x-ray source generated from traditional accelerators. We also discuss the influence of the laser and target parameters on the x-ray pulse properties. This compact bright x-ray source may have diverse applications, e.g., the study of electric dynamics and harmonics emission in the atomic scale.