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The spatio-temporal characterization of an isolated attosecond pulse is investigated theoretically in a two-color field. Our results show that a few-cycle isolated attosecond pulse with the center wavelength of 16 nm can be generated effectively by adding a weak controlling field. Using the split and delay units, the isolated attosecond pulse can be split to the two same ones, and then single-pinhole diffractive patterns of the two pulses with different delays can be achieved. The diffractive patterns depend severely on the periods of the attosecond pulses, which can be helpful to obtain temporal information of the coherent sources.

Energy spectra, angular distributions, and temporal profiles of the photons produced by an all-optical Thomson scattering X-ray source are explored through numerical simulations based on the parameters of the SILEX-I laser system (800 nm, 30 fs, 300 TW) and the previous wakefield acceleration experimental results. The simulation results show that X-ray pulses with a duration of 30 fs and an emission angle of 50 mrad can be produced from such a source. Using the optimized electron parameters, X-ray pulses with better directivity and narrower energy spectra can be obtained. Besides the electron parameters, the laser parameters such as the wavelength, pulse duration, and spot size also affect the X-ray yield, the angular distribution, and the maximum photon energy, except the X-ray pulse duration which is slightly changed for the case of ultrafast laser—electron interaction.