Uniform Laser-Driven Relativistic Electron Layer for Coherent Thomson Scattering
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Quantenoptik, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
A novel scheme is proposed to generate uniform relativistic electron layers for coherent Thomson backscattering. A few-cycle laser pulse is used to produce the electron layer from an ultrathin solid foil. The key element of the new scheme is an additional foil that reflects the drive-laser pulse, but lets the electrons pass almost unperturbed. Making use of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and well-known basic theory, it is shown that the electrons, after interacting with both the drive and reflected laser pulses, form a very uniform flyer freely cruising with a high relativistic {gamma} factor exactly in the drive-laser direction (no transverse momentum). It backscatters the probe light with a full Doppler shift factor of 4{gamma}{sup 2}. The reflectivity and its decay due to layer expansion are discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 21410402
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 23; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.234801; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BACKSCATTERING
DECAY
DOPPLER EFFECT
ELECTRONS
FOILS
LASERS
PROBES
PULSES
REFLECTIVITY
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SIMULATION
THOMSON SCATTERING
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VISIBLE RADIATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FERMIONS
INELASTIC SCATTERING
LEPTONS
LINEAR MOMENTUM
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
SCATTERING
SURFACE PROPERTIES