Combining Harmonic Generation and Laser Chirping to Achieve High Spectral Density in Compton Sources

Recently various laser-chirping schemes have been investigated with the goal of reducing or eliminating ponderomotive line broadening in Compton or Thomson scattering occurring at high laser intensities. As a next level of detail in the spectrum calculations, we have calculated the line smoothing and broadening expected due to incident beam energy spread within a one-dimensional plane wave model for the incident laser pulse, both for compensated (chirped) and unchirped cases. The scattered compensated distributions are treatable analytically within three models for the envelope of the incident laser pulses: Gaussian, Lorentzian, or hyperbolic secant. We use the new results to demonstrate that the laser chirping in Compton sources at high laser intensities: (i) enables the use of higher order harmonics, thereby reducing the required electron beam energies; and (ii) increases the photon yield in a small frequency band beyond that possible with the fundamental without chirping. This combination of chirping and higher harmonics can lead to substantial savings in the design, construction and operational costs of the new Compton sources. This is of particular importance to the the widely popular laser-plasma accelerator based Compton sources, as the improvement in their beam quality enters the regime where chirping is most effective.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Comment on Controlling the Spectral Shape of Nonlinear Thomson Scattering With Proper Laser Chirping

Rykovanov, Geddes, Schroeder, Esarey and Leemans [Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 19, 030701 (2016); hereafter RGSEL] have recently reported on the analytic derivation for the laser pulse frequency modulation (chirping) which controls spectrum broadening for high laser pulse intensities. We demonstrate here that their results are the same as the exact solutions reported in Terzic, Deitrick, Hofler and Krafft [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 074801 (2014); hereafter TDHK]. While the two papers deal with circularly and linearly polarized laser pulses, respectively, the difference in expressions for the two is just the usual factor of 1/2 present from going from circular to linear polarization. In addition, we note the authors used an approximation to the number of subsidiary peaks in the unchirped spectrum when a better solution is given in TDHK

Compensation of Non-Linear Bandwidth Broadening by Laser Chirping in Thomson Sources

A new laser chirping prescription is derived by means of the phase-stationary method for an inci- dent Gaussian laser pulse in conjunction with a Li enard-Wiechert calculation of the scattered radia- tion flux and spectral brilliance. This particularly efficient laser chirp has been obtained using the electric field of the laser and for electrons and radiation on axis. The frequency modulation is some- what reduced with respect to that proposed in the previous literature, allowing the application of this procedure to lasers with larger values of the parameter a0. Numerical calculations have been performed using mildly focused and narrow bandwidth laser pulses, confirming a larger efficiency of the chirp prescription here introduced. The chirp efficiency has been analysed as a function of the laser parameter and focusing. Published by AIP Publishing

Effect of laser frequency noise on fiber-optic frequency reference distribution

The effect of the linewidth of a single longitude-mode laser on the frequency stability of a frequency reference transmitted over a single-mode optical fiber is analyzed. The interaction of the random laser frequency deviations with the dispersion of the optical fiber is considered to determine theoretically the effect on the Allan deviation (square root of the Allan variance) of the transmitted frequency reference. It is shown that the magnitude of this effect may determine the limit of the ultimate stability possible for frequency reference transmission on optical fiber, but is not a serious limitation to present system performance

Temporal laser pulse shape effects in nonlinear Thomson scattering

The influence of the laser pulse temporal shape on the Nonlinear Thomson Scattering on-axis photon spectrum is analyzed in detail. Using the classical description, analytical expressions for the temporal and spectral structure of the scattered radiation are obtained for the case of symmetric laser pulse shapes. The possibility of reconstructing the incident laser pulse from the scattered spectrum averaged over interference fringes in the case of high peak intensity and symmetric laser pulse shape is discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Laser Chirping in Inverse Compton Sources at High Electron Beam Energies and High Laser Intensities

The onset of nonlinear effects, such as ponderomotive broadening, increases the radiation bandwidth and thereby places a stringent limitation on the laser intensity used in inverse Compton sources. Recently, we have shown that a judicious longitudinal laser frequency modulation ( chirping ) can perfectly compensate for this ponderomotive broadening and restore the narrow band property of scattered radiation in the Thomson regime, when electron recoil during the collision with the laser can be neglected. Consequently, using QED, the laser chirping has been extended to the Compton regime, where electron recoil is properly accounted for. Here we present a new, semiclassical model for computation of scattered spectra in the Compton regime. We also derive a comprehensive generalization of the expressions for chirping prescription for linearly polarized laser pulses in 1D plane-wave approximation with arbitrary shapes and arbitrary scattering angle in the Compton regime. We use these new expressions to show that the higher-order harmonics in sources with high laser fields and high electron beam energies (nonlinear Compton regime) will be nonlinearly redshifted when compared to those with lower beam energies (Thomson regime). The chirping prescription will act to correct ponderomotive broadening in very high harmonics

Improving performance of inverse Compton sources through laser chirping

We present a new paradigm for computation of radiation spectra in the non-linear regime of operation of inverse Compton sources characterized by high laser intensities. The resulting simulations show an unprecedented level of agreement with the experiments. Increasing the laser intensity changes the longitudinal velocity of the electrons during their collision, leading to considerable non-linear broadening in the scattered radiation spectra. The effects of such ponderomotive broadening are so deleterious that most inverse Compton sources either remain at low laser intensities or pay a steep price to operate at a small fraction of the physically possible peak spectral output. This ponderomotive broadening can be reduced by a suitable frequency modulation (also referred to as "chirping", which is not necessarily linear) of the incident laser pulse, thereby drastically increasing the peak spectral density. This frequency modulation, included in the new code as an optional functionality, is used in simulations to motivate the experimental implementation of this transformative technique.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure