Bright attosecond γ-ray pulses from nonlinear Compton scattering with laser-illuminated compound targets

Attosecond light sources have the potential to open up totally unexplored research avenues in ultrafast science. However, the photon energies achievable using existing generation schemes are limited to the keV range. Here, we propose and numerically demonstrate an all-optical mechanism for the gener...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2018-04, Vol.112 (17)
Main Authors: Zhu, Xing-Long, Chen, Min, Yu, Tong-Pu, Weng, Su-Ming, Hu, Li-Xiang, McKenna, Paul, Sheng, Zheng-Ming
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Attosecond light sources have the potential to open up totally unexplored research avenues in ultrafast science. However, the photon energies achievable using existing generation schemes are limited to the keV range. Here, we propose and numerically demonstrate an all-optical mechanism for the generation of bright MeV attosecond γ-photon beams with desirable angular momentum. Using a circularly polarized Laguerre-Gaussian laser pulse focused onto a cone-foil target, dense attosecond bunches ( ≲170 as) of electrons are produced. The electrons interact with the laser pulse which is reflected by a plasma mirror, producing ultra-brilliant (∼1023 photons/s/mm2/mrad2/0.1%BW) multi-MeV (Eγ,max > 30 MeV) isolated attosecond ( ≲260 as) γ-ray pulse trains. Moreover, the angular momentum is transferred to γ-photon beams via nonlinear Compton scattering of ultra-intense tightly focused laser pulse by energetic electrons. Such a brilliant attosecond γ-photon source would provide the possibilities in attosecond nuclear science.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.5028555