Low-intensity nonlinear spectral effects in compton scattering

Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Sep 24;105(13):130801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.130801. Epub 2010 Sep 24.

Abstract

Nonlinear effects are known to occur in Compton scattering light sources, when the laser normalized potential A approaches unity. In this Letter, it is shown that nonlinear spectral features can appear at arbitrarily low values of A, if the fractional bandwidth of the laser pulse Δϕ⁻¹ is sufficiently small to satisfy A²Δϕ≃1. A three-dimensional analysis, based on a local plane wave, slow-varying envelope approximation, enables the study of these effects for realistic interactions between an electron beam and a laser pulse, and their influence on high-precision Compton scattering light sources.