Brilliance of X rays and gamma rays produced by Compton backscattering of laser light from high-energy electrons

Abstract

In the Compton backscattering of laser light from a high-energy electron beam, the scattered photons are, as is well known, much harder than the incident photons. In connection with the inverse Compton effect, the spectral brightness, the brilliance of the backscattered radiation is theoretically investigated. For the brilliance B [photons/(sec × mm2 × sr × 0.1% bandwidth)] of the scattered radiation a defining relation is given. Then, the intensity I0 and the wavelength λ 0 of the incident laser light are assumed such that the intensity parameter η is sufficiently smaller than 1, so that with regard to the scattering process, multiphoton effects need not be considered, and the backscattered photon energy hν and the differential cross section dσ/dω approximately do not depend on η. In this case, the brilliance B linearly scales with I0. Furthermore, it is assumed that the primary electron and the incident laser photon are counterpropagating along a straight line, the head-on incidence of the laser photon. On these assumptions, for the brilliance B of the backscattered radiation, B depending on the back-scattered photon energy hν, an explicit formula is derived; from it, by approximations, a shorter formula for B is obtained.