Spatial Characteristics of Thomson Scattering in a Linearly Polarized Laser Field

Abstract

The spatial characteristics of Thomson scattering in a linearlypolarized laser field are investigated. The results show that theelectron's motion and spatial distributions of Thomson scatteringdepend sensitively on the phase η0 at which the electron isinjected to the laser field. When η0 equals to 0 or π,the electron motion is a zigzag motion and the spatial distributionsof the emission show fourfold or twofold symmetry. In other cases ofphases, there is a steady drift motion of electron in the transversedirection, which results in the absence of the zigzag motion and abreakdown of thesymmetry of the spatial distributions as well.