Short-pulse X-ray generation via Thomson scattering in 0° and 90° interactions

Short-pulse X-ray generation was demonstrated in a scattering experiment between a 4 ps electron beam and a 10 ps Nd:YLF laser beam. The beams interacted at 0 degrees and 90 degrees. The X-ray signal was measured using a microchannel plate. Maximum X-ray energy was analytically estimated to be 3.55 keV in the 0 degrees interaction and 1.77 keV in the 90 degrees interaction with a pulse duration of 4 ps for both interactions. Measured X-ray intensities exhibited good linearity with the incident laser light pulse energy for both scattering configurations. The measured X-ray intensity was compared with the intensity analyzed from the beam sizes and energies of both beams. The intensities matched and were of the order of 10(4) photons in the 0 degrees interaction.