Design of optical setups for high-yield optical undulators in the Traveling-Wave Thomson-Scattering geometry

Traveling-Wave Thomson-Scattering (TWTS) can realize ultra-compact, inherently synchronized and highly brilliant light sources from the ultraviolet to the hard X-ray range. In TWTS ultrashort laser pulses and relativistic electron bunches are utilized in a side-scattering geometry where laser pulse and electron bunch direction of motion enclose an interaction angle. Thereby the laser electric field provides the undulator field in which electrons oscillate and emit radiation during interaction. By employing tilted laser pulses TWTS ensures continuous overlap of laser and electrons while these traverse the laser cross-sectional area. Tilting the laser pulse-front compensates the spatial separation of electrons and laser at begin and end of the interaction originating from their different propagation directions. Combining laser pulse-front tilt and side-scattering in TWTS enables interaction over hundreds to thousands of optical undulator periods, enough to allow for optical free-electron laser (OFEL) operation since microbunching of the electron bunch and thus coherent radiation amplification can be achieved. After shortly introducing the TWTS scattering geometry, the design of optical setups to generate the tilted TWTS laser pulses is presented in the talk. This setup strategy provides dispersion compensation, required due to angular dispersion of the laser pulse, and is especially relevant when building compact, high-yield hard X-ray TWTS sources in large interaction angle setups. Determining parameters of the setup is illustrated in an example of an ultraviolet TWTS OFEL and an outlook is given on the design of hard X-ray TWTS sources.