Nonlinear single Compton scattering of an electron wave-packet

TL;DR

This paper explores how modeling an electron as a wave-packet instead of a definite momentum affects the energy spectrum in nonlinear single Compton scattering, revealing that initial electron uncertainty significantly alters observable spectra.

Contribution

It introduces a wave-packet initial state into nonlinear Compton scattering analysis, highlighting the impact of electron momentum uncertainty on emitted photon spectra.

Findings

Spectral features are washed out with wave-packet initial states.

Electron momentum uncertainty impacts photon spectra more than laser frequency uncertainty.

Results suggest experimental spectra are sensitive to initial electron state modeling.

Abstract

Nonlinear single Compton scattering has been thoroughly investigated in the literature under the assumption that initially the electron has a definite momentum. Here, we study a more general initial state, and consider the electron as a wave-packet. In particular, we investigate the energy spectrum of the emitted radiation and show that in typical experimental situations some features of the spectra shown in previous works are almost completely washed out. Moreover, we show that at comparable relative uncertainties, the one in the momentum of the incoming electron has a larger impact on the photon spectra at a fixed observation direction than the one on the laser frequency.