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Cited by 267

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 14 of the 14 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Experimental observation of relativistic nonlinear Thomson scattering

Open access
Chen, Szu-yuan, Maksimchuk, Anatoly, Umstadter, Donald·1998·Nature
DOI 10.1038/25303
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Abstract

Classical Thomson scattering — the scattering of low-intensity light by electrons — is a linear process, in that it does not change the frequency of the radiation; moreover, the magnetic-field component of light is not involved. But if the light intensity is extremely high (∼1018 W cm−2), the electrons oscillate during the scattering process with velocities approaching the speed of light. In this relativistic regime, the effect of the magnetic and electric fields on the electron motion should become comparable, and the effective electron mass will increase. Consequently, electrons in such high fields are predicted to quiver nonlinearly, moving in figure-of-eight patterns rather than in straight lines. Scattered photons should therefore be radiated at harmonics of the frequency of the incident light, with each harmonic having its own unique angular distribution. Ultrahigh-peak-power lasers offer a means of creating the huge photon densities required to study relativistic, or ‘nonlinear’ (ref. 6), Thomson scattering. Here we use such an approach to obtain direct experimental confirmation of the theoretical predictions of relativistic Thomson scattering. In the future, it may be possible to achieve coherent, generation of the harmonics, a process that could be potentially utilized for ‘table-top’ X-ray sources.

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Metadata

Authors
Chen, S.-Y., Maksimchuk, A., & Umstadter, D.
Venue
Nature
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
1998-12
Volume
396
Issue
6712
Pages
653-655
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/25303
OpenAlex
W2598645873
Cited by
267
References
14
FWCI
6.86
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Experimental observation of relativistic nonlinear Thomson scattering. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1038/25303
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Chen, S.-Y., Maksimchuk, A., & Umstadter, D. (1998). Experimental observation of relativistic nonlinear Thomson scattering. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/25303

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

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