Generating structured lights
In a recently published paper, the research team proposed a novel scheme for generating structured lights. Instead of focusing the light onto a single point, the beam is engineered to focus along a straight line of focal spots, like a string of "pearls". Each "pearl," or focal spot, appears sequentially and periodically at designed positions. In other words, the focal spots are distributed periodically in both space and time, which enables the possibility of coherent scattering.
A specialized mirror, named stretched off-axis paraboloid (sOAP) mirror, is employed to generate structured light that maintains an extended focal range and produces a well-controlled periodic light field. The "focal string" technique can potentially be extended to several centimeters in length to match the size of high-energy electron beams.
Coherent Inverse Compton Scattering
In this scheme, coherent inverse Compton scattering is achieved by combining periodic structured light with electron beams that can also be engineered into microbunches. The interaction between the structured light and the microbunched electrons leads to coherent scattering, where the scattered intensity scales with the square of (N1×N2)^2 (the number of electrons and photons, respectively), rather than just N1×N2 as in the incoherent case. This mechanism enables the generation of significantly higher-intensity scattered photon beams.
Implications for Science and Technology
"High-intensity light sources, especially in the EUV and soft X-ray range, are in high demand across both industry and scientific research," said the leader of the team, Academician Yugang Ma. "The proposed scheme, based on coherent Compton scattering, holds significant potential to dramatically enhance the beam intensity achievable in this energy range, offering a major improvement over current technologies."
"Coherent scattering is such a fundamental process in physics and has played many important roles throughout the history of science and technology," stated Professor Changbo Fu, the co-corresponding author of the paper. "We believe that coherent inverse Compton scattering will play another important role, bring us high-intensity soft X-ray and EUV sources that can benefit our society in many ways."
The complete study is accessible via DOI：10.1007/s41365-025-01755-8
Nuclear Science and Techniques (NST) is a peer-reviewed international journal sponsored by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The journal publishes high-quality research across a broad range of nuclear science disciplines, including nuclear physics, nuclear energy, accelerator physics, and nuclear electronics. Its Editor-in-Chief is the renowned physicist, Professor Yu-Gang Ma.
