Determining the carrier-envelope phase of intense few-cycle laser pulses

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to determine the carrier-envelope phase of intense, few-cycle laser pulses by analyzing the angular distribution of photons emitted through multiphoton Compton scattering, accounting for relativistic and quantum effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel technique for measuring the carrier-envelope phase using photon emission patterns, applicable to ultra-strong laser experiments.

Findings

Angular photon distribution is sensitive to the laser's carrier-envelope phase.

Method is applicable to current and future ultra-strong laser facilities.

Calculations include relativistic and quantum effects for accuracy.

Abstract

The electromagnetic radiation emitted by an ultra-relativistic accelerated electron is extremely sensitive to the precise shape of the field driving the electron. We show that the angular distribution of the photons emitted by an electron via multiphoton Compton scattering off an intense ($I>10^{20}\;\text{W/cm$^2$}$), few-cycle laser pulse provides a direct way of determining the carrier-envelope phase of the driving laser field. Our calculations take into account exactly the laser field, include relativistic and quantum effects and are in principle applicable to presently available and future foreseen ultra-strong laser facilities.