Spectral bandwidth reduction of Thomson scattered light by pulse chirping

Authors

Isaac A. Ghebregziabher, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Bradley Allan Shadwick, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Donald Umstadter, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2013

Citation

PHYSICAL REVIEW SPECIAL TOPICS - ACCELERATORS AND BEAMS 16, 030705 (2013)

Comments

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Abstract

Based on single particle tracking in the framework of classical Thomson scattering with incoherent superposition, we developed a relativistic, three-dimensional numerical model that calculates and quantifies the characteristics of emitted radiation when a relativistic electron beam interacts with an intense laser pulse. This model has been benchmarked against analytical expressions, based on the plane wave approximation to the laser field, derived by Esarey et al. [ Phys. Rev. E 48 3003 (1993)]. For laser pulses of sufficient duration, we find that the scattered radiation spectrum is broadened due to interferences arising from the pulsed nature of the laser. We find that by appropriately chirping the scattering laser pulse, spectral broadening can be minimized, and the peak on-axis brightness of the emitted radiation is increased by a factor of approximately 5.