Phase dependence of Thomson scattering in an ultraintense laser field

Authors

Fei He, University of Michigan
Y. Y. Lau, University of Michigan
Donald P. Umstadter, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Trevor Strickler, \University of Michigan

Date of this Version

10-1-2002

Comments

Published in Physics of Plasmas 9:10 (Oct 2002), pp. 4325-4329. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. Used by permission. DOI: 10.1063/1.1507590
Physics of Plasmas is published monthly by the American Institute of Physics with the cooperation of The American Physical Society, Division of Plasma Physics
http://pop.aip.org/

Abstract

The Thomson scattering spectra of an electron by an ultraintense laser field are computed. It is found that the electron orbit, and therefore its nonlinear Thomson scattering spectra, depend critically on the amplitude of the ultraintense laser field and on the phase at which the electron sees the laser electric field. Contrary to some customary notions, the Thomson scattering spectra, in general, do not occur at integer multiples of the laser frequency and the maximum frequency is proportional to the first instead of the third power of the electric field strength for the case of an ultraintense laser. The implications of these findings are discussed.

See the same authors' “Erratum: Phase dependence of Thomson scattering in an ultraintense laser field (Physics Plasmas (2002) 9 (4325)),” Physics of Plasmas 10:1, p. 327 (Jan 2003).