Nonlinear Thomson scattering with ponderomotive control

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that spatiotemporal pulse shaping in nonlinear Thomson scattering can significantly enhance radiation output, enabling high-energy photon generation at lower electron energies and reducing reliance on high-energy accelerators.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel method of using ponderomotive control via pulse shaping to improve nonlinear Thomson scattering performance.

Findings

Enhanced scaling of radiated power, emission angle, and frequency with laser intensity.

Order-of-magnitude increase in radiated power through pulse shaping.

Potential to operate at lower electron energies, reducing accelerator requirements.

Abstract

In nonlinear Thomson scattering, a relativistic electron reflects and re-radiates the photons of a laser pulse, converting optical light to x rays or beyond. While this extreme frequency conversion offers a promising source for probing high-energy-density materials and driving uncharted regimes of nonlinear quantum electrodynamics, conventional nonlinear Thomson scattering has inherent tradeoffs in its scaling with laser intensity. Here we discover that the ponderomotive control afforded by spatiotemporal pulse shaping enables novel regimes of nonlinear Thomson scattering that substantially enhance the scaling of the radiated power, emission angle, and frequency with laser intensity. By appropriately setting the velocity of the intensity peak, a spatiotemporally shaped pulse can increase the power radiated by orders of magnitude. The enhanced scaling with laser intensity allows for operation at significantly lower electron energies and can eliminate the need for a high-energy electron accelerator.