Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 054802 (2006) [4 pages]Observation of the Second Harmonic in Thomson Scattering from Relativistic ElectronsReceived 24 May 2005; published 8 February 2006 A free relativistic electron in an electromagnetic field is a pure case of a light-matter interaction. In the laboratory environment, this interaction can be realized by colliding laser pulses with electron beams produced from particle accelerators. The process of single photon absorption and reemission by the electron, so-called linear Thomson scattering, results in radiation that is Doppler shifted into the x-ray and γ-ray regions. At elevated laser intensity, nonlinear effects should come into play when the transverse motion of the electrons induced by the laser beam is relativistic. In the present experiment, we achieved this condition and characterized the second harmonic of Thomson x-ray scattering using the counterpropagation of a 60 MeV electron beam and a subterawatt CO2 laser beam. © 2006 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.054802
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.054802
PACS:
41.50.+h, 41.75.Ht, 42.55.Lt
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