Compact polarized X-ray source based on all-optical inverse Compton scattering

TL;DR

This paper presents a compact, all-optical inverse Compton scattering X-ray source capable of generating polarization-tunable X-rays with high photon energy and yield, useful for various scientific applications.

Contribution

It introduces a plasma-mirror-based AOCS scheme that produces polarization-tunable X-rays with high energy and photon yield, demonstrating its polarization control capabilities.

Findings

Achieved mean photon energy of 60-64 keV with polarization tunability.

Generated single-shot photon yield of approximately 1.1-1.3×10^7.

Demonstrated average polarization degree of 75% for linearly polarized X-rays.

Abstract

Polarized X-ray source is an important probe for many fields such as fluorescence imaging, magnetic microscopy, and nuclear physics research. All-optical inverse Compton scattering source (AOCS) based on laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) has drawn great attention in recent years due to its compact scale and high performance, especially its potential to generate polarized X-rays. Here, polarization-tunable X-rays are generated by a plasma-mirror-based AOCS scheme. The linearly and circularly polarized AOCS pulses are achieved with the mean photon energy of 60($\pm$5)/64($\pm$3) keV and the single-shot photon yield of $\sim$1.1/1.3$\times10^7$. A Compton polarimeter is designed to diagnose the photon polarization states, demonstrating AOCS's polarization-tunable property, and indicating the average polarization degree of the linearly polarized AOCS is 75($\pm$3)%.