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.
Analytical solutions for the emitted nonlinear Thomson scattering spectrum with radiation reaction (RR) included are provided for a single electron colliding with a high intensity laser pulse. Further expressions are derived for the peak intensity for a given harmonic order and the downshift of the frequency when RR is included. Controlling the spectrum with shaping of the laser pulse frequency (chirp) has been investigated. It is shown that chirping of the laser pulse gives a distinct fingerprint of the effect of RR in the spectrum.
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