Investigation of X-Ray Harmonics of the Polarized Inverse Compton Scattering Experiment at UCLA

An Inverse Compton Scattering (ICS) experiment, which will investigate nonlinear properties of scattering utilizing a terawatt CO
2
laser system with various polarizations, is ongoing at the UCLA Neptune Laboratory. When the normalized amplitude of the incident laser's vector potential a
0
is larger than unity the scattering occurs in the nonlinear region; therefore, higher harmonics are also produced. ICS can be used, e.g., for a polarized positron source by striking a thin target (such as tungsten) with the polarized X-rays. As such, it is critical to demonstrate the production of polarized scattered photons and to investigate the ICS process as it enters the nonlinear regime. We present the description of the experimental set up and equipment utilized, including diagnostics for electron and photon beam detection. We present the current status of the experiment.