Simulation Study on Attosecond Inverse Compton Scattering Source from Laser Wakefield Acceleration with Near-Threshold Ionization Injection.

We present the generation of attosecond gamma rays via inverse Compton scattering within the framework of laser wakefield acceleration through 2D Particle-In-Cell simulations. Utilizing the near-threshold ionization injection mechanism, an attosecond micro-bunched electron beam characterized by a comb-like current density profile can be achieved with a linearly polarized laser at an intensity of a₀ = 1.5. The micro-bunched beam provides a beam energy of approximately 300 MeV and achieves a minimum relative energy spread of about 1.64% after undergoing 2 mm of acceleration. In the inverse Compton scattering scheme, these attosecond electron micro-bunches interact with the reflected driving laser pulse, resulting in the attosecond gamma-ray radiation exhibiting similar structures. Individual spatial-separated gamma-ray pulses exhibit a length of approximately 260–300 as, with a critical energy of 2.0 ± 0.2 MeV. The separated attosecond gamma-ray source owns a peak brilliance of ~10²² photons s⁻¹ mm⁻² mrad⁻² 0.1% BW. This brilliance is competitive in a laboratory for multi-MeV γ-ray sources with a laser intensity of I = 5 × 10¹⁸ W/cm². Such attosecond gamma-ray radiation offers promising applications requiring ultrashort X-ray/gamma ray sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]