High Resolution Energy-Angle Correlation Measurement of Hard X Rays from Laser-Thomson Backscattering

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 the future high brightness hard X-ray source PHOENIX (Photon electron collider for Narrow bandwidth Intense X-rays) and potential gamma-ray sources.