Generation of High-Energy Photons with Large Orbital Angular Momentum by Compton Backscattering

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the generation of high-energy twisted photons with orbital angular momentum via Compton backscattering of twisted laser light, opening new avenues for high-energy photon experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a method to produce high-energy twisted photons through Compton backscattering, expanding the capabilities of laser optics in high-energy physics.

Findings

High-energy twisted photons can be generated via Compton backscattering.

Potential applications include atomic, nuclear, and particle physics experiments.

New experimental regimes for studying photo-effects and pair production are enabled.

Abstract

Usually, photons are described by plane waves with a definite 4-momentum. In addition to plane-wave photons, "twisted photons" have recently entered the field of modern laser optics; these are coherent superpositions of plane waves with a defined projection hbar*m of the orbital angular momentum onto the propagation axis, where m is integer. In this paper, we show that it is possible to produce high-energy twisted photons by Compton backscattering of twisted laser photons off ultra-relativistic electrons. Such photons may be of interest for experiments related to the excitation and disintegration of atoms and nuclei, and for studying the photo-effect and pair production off nuclei in previously unexplored experimental regimes.