A high peak brightness Thomson scattering x-ray source using high-power lasers

Thomson scattering of high-power laser pulses from relativistic bunches of electrons is a promising technique to deliver ultra-short x-ray pulses of high peak brightness. X-ray pulses in the multi-keV regime are obtainable using few MeV electrons delivered by conventional accelerators.

With laser-accelerated electrons photon energies of several MeV can be reached. We introduce concepts to improve the peak brightness of these beams using high power lasers and compare simulation results to experiment. Analytic models show that long interaction lengths could be obtained by spatio-temporal tayloring of the laser pulse. This Travelling-Wave Thomson Scattering technique would allow to produce narrow-bandwidth X-ray pulses of high peak brightness.