Eur. Phys. J. D 33, 301-306 (2005)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2005-00042-8

Nonlinear Thomson scattering from relativistic laser plasma interaction

Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, ENSTA, CNRS UMR 7639, École Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière, 91761 Palaiseau, France

Corresponding author: ^a kim.taphuoc@ensta.fr

Received: 6 September 2004
Revised: 8 December 2004
Published online: 12 April 2005

Abstract

As an electron oscillates in an intense laser field, it acquires a highly nonlinear motion and emits X-ray radiation by nonlinear Thomson scattering. In this paper we present a numerical and experimental analysis of this radiation. We show that this radiative process becomes dominant at relativistic laser intensities (), for which the laser light scatters off MeV electrons accelerated in the plasma.