Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Thomson backscattering of intense laser pulses from relativistic electrons not only allows for the generation of bright X-ray pulses but also for the investigation of the complex particle dynamics at the interaction point. For this purpose a complete spectral characterization of a Thomson source powered by a compact linear electron accelerator was performed with unprecedented angular and energy resolution. A rigorous statistical analysis comparing experimental data to 3D simulations enabled, e.g., the extraction of the angular distribution of electrons with 1.5% accuracy and, in total, provides predictive capability for future high brightness hard X-ray and potential gamma-ray sources. We further present a novel Thomson scattering geometry in order to avoid the restrictions on the X-ray photon yield imposed by the Rayleigh limit. The suggested traveling-wave setup (TWTS) allows an overlap of electron and laser beams, even after propagating over distances in the centimeter to meter range. Experimental designs are discussed and optimized for different scattering angles.