Quasi-monoenergetic femtosecond photon sources from Thomson Scattering using laser plasma accelerators and plasma channels

TL;DR

This paper presents analytic and numerical methods to optimize narrow bandwidth, high energy photon sources via Thomson scattering, demonstrating that plasma channels can significantly enhance photon flux and reduce laser energy requirements.

Contribution

It introduces a combined analytic and simulation framework for designing Thomson scattering photon sources, highlighting the benefits of plasma channels for flux enhancement and energy efficiency.

Findings

Photon flux can be increased using plasma channels.

Laser energy requirements can be reduced by an order of magnitude with plasma guiding.

Realistic experimental errors are tolerable in the proposed designs.

Abstract

Narrow bandwidth, high energy photon sources can be generated by Thomson scattering of laser light from energetic electrons, and detailed control of the interaction is needed to produce high quality sources. We present analytic calculations of the energy-angular spectra and photon yield that parametrize the influences of the electron and laser beam parameters to allow source design. These calculations, combined with numerical simulations, are applied to evaluate sources using conventional scattering in vacuum and methods for improving the source via laser waveguides or plasma channels. We show that the photon flux can be greatly increased by using a plasma channel to guide the laser during the interaction. Conversely, we show that to produce a given number of photons, the required laser energy can be reduced by an order of magnitude through the use of a plasma channel. In addition, we show that a plasma can be used as a compact beam dump, in which the electron beam is decelerated in a short distance, thereby greatly reducing radiation shielding. Realistic experimental errors such as transverse jitter are quantitatively shown to be tolerable. Examples of designs for sources capable of performing nuclear resonance fluorescence and photofission are provided.