The nonlinear Thomson scattering of a relativistic electron with an intense laser pulse is calculated numerically. The results show that an ultrashort x-ray pulse can be generated by an electron with an initial energy of 5 MeV propagating across a circularly polarized laser pulse with a duration of 8 femtosecond and an intensity of about $1.1\times {10}^{21}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$, when the detection direction is perpendicular to the propagation directions of both the electron and the laser beam. The optimal values of the carrier-envelop phase and the intensity of the laser pulse for the generation of a single ultrashort x-ray pulse are obtained and verified by our calculations of the radiation characteristics.

• Received 4 November 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.15.070702

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Published by the American Physical Society