Abstract
We propose a scheme for bright sub-100-fs x-ray radiation generation using small-angle Thomson scattering. Coupling high-brightness electron bunches with high-power ultrafast laser pulses, radiation with photon energies between 8 and 40 keV can be generated with pulse duration comparable to that of the incoming laser pulse and with peak spectral brightness close to that of the third-generation synchrotron light sources of $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{20}\mathrm{photons}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{mm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}{\mathrm{mrad}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ per ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ bandwidth. A preliminary dynamic calculation is performed to understand the property of this novel scattering scheme with relativistic laser intensities.
Highlights
Thomson scattering of an intense laser beam from relativistic electron bunches is well known to generate frequency up-shifted photons in a narrow forward cone [1,2]
With the advent of high quality electron bunches generated with modern photoinjectors [3] and intense, ultrafast laser beams [4], a variety of Thomson scattering schemes have been used to generate bright, ultrafast x-ray pulses with duration as short as a few picoseconds, and sometimes even into the subpicosecond regime
The pulse duration achieved so far, namely, subpicosecond durations achieved by other means such as laser plasma radiation [10] and sliced synchrotron radiation [11], is still an order of magnitude too long for achieving the resolution at the atomic scale of a few femtoseconds [10,12]
Summary
Thomson scattering of an intense laser beam from relativistic electron bunches is well known to generate frequency up-shifted photons in a narrow forward cone [1,2]. With the advent of high quality electron bunches generated with modern photoinjectors [3] and intense, ultrafast laser beams [4], a variety of Thomson scattering schemes have been used to generate bright, ultrafast x-ray pulses with duration as short as a few picoseconds, and sometimes even into the subpicosecond regime. We propose the use of the small-angle Thomson scattering (SATS) scheme as a unique solution to the conflicting interests of generating shorter pulse duration and higher spectral brightness. In this scheme, the x-ray pulse duration is determined by that of the scattering laser pulse, in contrast to previous schemes where it is determined by the longitudinal or transverse electron bunch sizes.
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