Observation of the Second Harmonic in Thomson Scattering from Relativistic Electrons

Journal Article · Fri Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2006 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.054802· OSTI ID:20777021

Babzien, Marcus; Ben-Zvi, Ilan; Kusche, Karl; Pavlishin, Igor V; Pogorelsky, Igor V; Siddons, David P; Yakimenko, Vitaly; Cline, David; Feng, Zhou; Hirose, Tachishige; Kamiya, Yoshio; Kumita, Tetsuro; Omori, Tsunehiko; Urakawa, Junji; Yokoya, Kaoru ^[1]

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1. Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973 (United States)

A free relativistic electron in an electromagnetic field is a pure case of a light-matter interaction. In the laboratory environment, this interaction can be realized by colliding laser pulses with electron beams produced from particle accelerators. The process of single photon absorption and reemission by the electron, so-called linear Thomson scattering, results in radiation that is Doppler shifted into the x-ray and {gamma}-ray regions. At elevated laser intensity, nonlinear effects should come into play when the transverse motion of the electrons induced by the laser beam is relativistic. In the present experiment, we achieved this condition and characterized the second harmonic of Thomson x-ray scattering using the counterpropagation of a 60 MeV electron beam and a subterawatt CO{sub 2} laser beam.

• OSTI ID: 20777021
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.054802; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
ACCELERATORS
CARBON DIOXIDE LASERS
DOPPLER EFFECT
ELECTRODYNAMICS
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ELECTRON BEAMS
ELECTRONS
GAMMA RADIATION
MATTER
MEV RANGE 10-100
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PHOTONS
PULSES
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
THOMSON SCATTERING
VISIBLE RADIATION
X RADIATION
X-RAY DIFFRACTION