Attosecond gamma-ray pulses via nonlinear Compton scattering in the radiation dominated regime

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the potential to generate ultrashort, high-energy gamma-ray pulses using nonlinear Compton scattering in the radiation dominated regime, with implications for advanced laser and particle physics experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for producing attosecond gamma-ray pulses via nonlinear Compton scattering in the radiation dominated regime, combining semiclassical and quantum electrodynamical models.

Findings

Generation of hundreds of attosecond gamma-ray bursts.

Gamma-ray photons reaching dozens of MeV energies.

Short bursts are independent of electron bunch and laser pulse durations.

Abstract

The feasibility of generation of bright ultrashort gamma-ray pulses is demonstrated in the interaction of a relativistic electron bunch with a counterpropagating tightly-focused superstrong laser beam in the radiation dominated regime. The Compton scattering spectra of gamma-radiation are investigated using a semiclassical description for the electron dynamics in the laser field and a quantum electrodynamical description for the photon emission. We demonstrate the feasibility of ultrashort gamma-ray bursts of hundreds of attoseconds and of dozens of megaelectronvolt photon energies in the near-backwards direction of the initial electron motion. The tightly focused laser field structure and radiation reaction are shown to be responsible for such short gamma-ray bursts which are independent of the durations of the electron bunch and of the laser pulse. The results are measurable with the laser technology available in a near-future.