Effects of laser pulse shape on forward Thomson scattering

Abstract

The effects of super-cycle (or sub-cycle) and super-Gaussian laser pulse shapes on the forward Thomson scattering by an electron moving in a linearly polarized laser field are investigated. The numerical results show that for forward scattering spectra, there are only harmonics of odd orders. With increasing the super-cycle parameter, the intensity of the scattering spectra increases and more harmonics orders appear. In the case of sub-cycle laser pulse shape, decreasing the sub-cycle parameter leads to a gradual decrease in the interval between the adjacent harmonics and scattering spectra exhibiting quasi-continuity. Furthermore, the intensity of the high-order harmonic increases and the harmonic with peak intensity shifts from fundamental to higher order with increasing super-Gaussian parameter. Besides, the effects of the electron's initial direction and speed as well as the carrier envelope phase on the scattering spectra are also explored. Our results indicate the possibility of future application in X-ray source devices based on Thomson scattering.