Production of High Harmonic X-Ray Radiation from Non-Linear Thomson Scattering at LLNL Pleiades

We describe an experiment for production of high harmonic x-ray radiation from Thomson backscattering of an ultra-short high power density laser by a relativistic electron beam at the PLEIADES facility at LLNL. In this scenario, electrons execute a “figure-8” motion under the influence of the high-intensity laser field, where the con stant characterizing the field strength is expected to exceed unity: a
L
= eE
L
/m
e
cω
L
≥ 1. With large a
L
this motion produces high harmonic x-ray radiation and significant broadening of the spectral peaks. This paper is intended to give a layout of the PLEIADES experiment, along with progress towards experimental goals.