Compton backscattering of free-electron laser photons and generation of high-energy monochromatic photon fluxes

Abstract

The possibility of realizing a high-energy /spl gamma/-ray beam by using the Compton backscattering of X-ray free-electron laser photons is discussed. It is shown that the present status of technology offers the possibility of obtaining quasi-monochromatic beams (/spl Delta/E/sub /spl gamma///E/sub /spl gamma///spl sim/1%) with energy ranging up to 5 GeV and with a counting rate larger than 10/sup 6/ photons per second.