T. Hirose

Efficient Propagation of Polarization from Laser Photons to Positrons through Compton Scattering and Electron-Positron Pair Creation

We have demonstrated for the first time the production of highly polarized short-pulse positrons with a finite energy spread in accordance with a new scheme that consists of two-quantum processes, such as inverse Compton scattering and electron-positron pair creation. Using a circularly polarized laser beam of 532 nm scattered off a high-quality, 1.28 GeV electron beam, we have obtained polarized positrons with an intensity of 2 x 10(4) e+ /bunch. The magnitude of positron polarization has been determined to be 73 +/- 15(stat) +/- 19(syst)% by means of a newly designed positron polarimeter.

Observation of the nonlinear effect in relativistic thomson scattering of electron and laser beams

Thomson scattering of high-power laser and electron beams is a good test of electrodynamics in the high-field region. We demonstrated production of high-intensity X-rays in the head-on collision of a CO2 laser and 60-MeV electron beams at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Accelerator Test Facility. The energy of an X-ray photon was limited at 6.5 keV in the linear (lowest order) Thomson scattering, but the nonlinear (higher order) process produces higher energy X-rays. We measured the angular distribution of the high-energy X-rays and confirmed that it agrees with theoretical predictions.

Photon generation by laser-Compton scattering at the KEK-ATF

We performed a photon generation experiment by laser-Compton scattering at the KEK-ATF,aiming to develop a Compton based polarized positron source for linear colliders. In the experiment, laser pulses with a 357 MHz repetition rate were accumulated and their power was enhanced by up to 250 times in the Fabry-Perot optical resonant cavity. We succeeded in synchronizing the laser pulses and colliding them with the 1.3 GeV electron beam in the ATF ring while maintaining the laser pulse accumulation in the cavity. As a result, we observed 26.0 +/- 0.1 photons per electron-laser pulse crossing, which corresponds to a yield of 10(8) photons in a second

Transmission of high-power CO2 laser pulses through a plasma channel

A 5 J, 180 ps CO2 laser pulse is channeled by a 17 mm long capillary discharge. Plasma dynamic simulations confirm occurrence of optical guiding conditions along a plasma column of a quasiparabolic radial profile with the minimum axial free-electron density ∼1017u2009cm−3.

Photon Generation by Laser-Compton Scattering Using an Optical Resonant Cavity at the KEK-ATF Electron Ring

We studied gamma-ray generation by the laser-Compton scattering using a Fabry-Perot optical resonant cavity at the KEK-ATF electron storage ring. The laser power was enhanced up to 388 W in the optical resonant cavity with an injection power of 7 W in the ATF operation environments. The yield of photons for a crossing of a laser pulse and an electron bunch was 3.3 +/- 0.6, which was consistent with a numerical estimate. In this paper, we report construction, installation and future prospect toward the polarized positron generation for the International Linear Collider.

Transition Probability and Polarization of Final Photons in Nonlinear Compton Scattering for Linearly Polarized Laser

The nonlinear Compton scattering of a polarized laser beam is discussed in this paper. Using Volkovs solution and a polarization density matrix, we obtain a complete transition probability formula for a linearly polarized laser and unpolarized electrons. The polarization properties of final photons under different conditions are discussed.

Demonstration of High Photon Yields and Nonlinearity in Relativistic Thomson Scattering

We present a progress report on the BNL’s experiment on Thomson scattering from 60 MeV electrons in a counter‐propagating terawatt CO2 laser beam. The measured x‐ray yield averages to one photon per electron within the laser/e‐beam overlap region. The observed changes in the spectral and polar distributions of the x‐ray beam with the increase of the laser intensity mark the onset of a strong nonlinearity. This indicates that electron’s oscillation in the laser field transforms to the figure‐eight trajectory.

X-ray spectrometer for observation of nonlinear compton scattering

An x-ray spectrometer, which consists of a multilayer device and a two-dimensional position sensitive detector, is designed for measurement of the x-ray energy spectrum and angular distribution from the nonlinear Compton scattering of 60 MeV electron and high power CO{sub 2} laser beams provided by a user facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory. A Prototype of the spectrometer has constructed and tested using isotropic 8 keV (Cu K{alpha}) x-rays from a sealed x-ray tube.

Laser Propagation and Compton Scattering in Parabolic Plasma Channel

A Gaussian laser beam propagating in a parabolic plasma channel is discussed in this paper. For a weak laser, plasma density perturbation induced by interaction between the laser field and plasma is very small, the refractive index can be assumed to be constant with respect to time variable. For a parabolic plasma channel, through the static propagation equation, we obtain an analytical solution of the profile function of the Gaussian laser beam for an unmatched case and give the general condition for the matched case. As the laser intensity increases, an effect due to strong laser fields is included. We discuss how to design and select the distribution of plasma density for a certain experiment in which a plasma channel is utilized to guide a laser beam. The number of scattered photons (X-rays) generated through Compton backscattering in a plasma channel is discussed.