{gamma}-ray production in colliding laser pulses

Conference · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:321052

Hartemann, F V; VanMeter, J R; Luhmann, Jr, N C ^[1]; Kerman, A K ^[2]

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1. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Applied Science
2. Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (United States). Physics Dept.

The acceleration of charged leptons to a TeV energies is a problem of considerable importance. At these energies, electroweak spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism are expected to play a dominant role in the interaction physics. Alternatively, short wavelength photons can also be used to probe this energy range, as exemplified by the {gamma}-{gamma} collider project. The authors show that the combination of vacuum ponderomotive acceleration with Compton backscattering can produce high energy photons with a high intensity laser and an electron beam of relatively modest energy. In this manner, the high energy acquired by the electrons within the dive laser pulse is effectively extracted in the form of short wavelength photons by a colliding probe laser pulse, without requiring complex structures to terminate the interaction. For example, 1-TeV photons could be produced with an 8.5 10{sup 20} W/cm{sup 2} drive pulse at 800 nm, interacting with a 550 MeV beam. By comparison, an FEL using the same laser wavelength for an electromagnetic wiggler would require over 200 GeV of beam energy.

• Sponsoring Organization: Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 321052
• Report Number(s): CONF-970559--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
COLLIDING BEAMS
ELECTRON BEAMS
GAMMA RADIATION
GAMMA SOURCES
LASER RADIATION
PHOTON-PHOTON INTERACTIONS
STORAGE RINGS