Traveling-wave Thomson scattering and optical undulators for high-yield EUV and X-ray sources

We present a novel high-yield Thomson scattering geometry that takes advantage of compact electron bunches, as available in advanced, low-emittance linear accelerators or laser wakefield accelerators. In order to avoid the restrictions on the X-ray photon yield imposed by the Rayleigh limit, we use ultrashort, pulse-front tilted laser pulses in a side-scattering geometry. Such a traveling-wave setup allows an overlap of electron and laser beams, even after propagating over distances much longer than the Rayleigh length. Experimental designs are discussed and optimized for different scattering angles. Specifically, to minimize group delay dispersion at large scattering angles > 10° degrees, we propose the use of varied-line spacing (VLS) gratings for spatio-temporal laser pulse shaping. Compared to head-on (180° degrees) Thomson scattering, interaction lengths are in the centimeter to meter range and photon numbers for ultrashort X-ray pulses can increase by several orders of magnitudes.