Demonstration of 8×10^{18} photons/second peaked at 1.8 Å in a relativistic Thomson scattering experiment

Abstract

7.6×10^{6} x-ray photons per 3.5 ps pulse are detected within a 1.8–2.3 Å spectral window during a proof-of-principle laser synchrotron source experiment. A 600 MW CO_{2} laser interacted in a head-on collision with a 60 MeV, 140 A, 3.5 ps electron beam. Both beams were focused to a σ=32 μm spot. Our next plan is to demonstrate 10^{10} x-ray photons per pulse using a CO_{2} laser of ∼1 TW peak power.