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First systematic experimental 2D mapping of linearly polarized $\gamma$-ray polarimetric distribution in relativistic Compton scattering

Nuclear Experiment 2025-06-03 v1 Classical Physics

Abstract

The interaction of photons with relativistic electrons constitutes a fundamental electromagnetic process whose polarization transfer mechanics remain incompletely characterized. We report the first systematic measurement of spatial polarization distribution for γ\gamma-rays generated via \SI{45}{\degree} slant inverse Compton scattering (ICS) between linearly polarized \SI{0.117}{\eV} photons and \SI{3.5}{\GeV} electrons, performing full 2D mapping of intensity, polarization angle (AOP), and degree of polarization (DOP). Measurements reveal an asymmetric beam profile along the laser's polarization direction that resembles \SI{180}{\degree} backward ICS observations. The central beam region exhibits DOP \approx 1.0 with AOP rigidly aligned at \SI{45}{\degree}, while peripheral regions display complex non-uniform polarization distributions. These findings confirm quantum electrodynamics predictions of near-complete polarization transfer along the beam axis in slant geometries, thus establishing slant scattering as a viable alternative to head-on configurations for generating high DOP γ\gamma-rays.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.00767,
  title  = {First systematic experimental 2D mapping of linearly polarized $\gamma$-ray polarimetric distribution in relativistic Compton scattering},
  author = {Kaijie Chen and Xiangfei Wang and Hanghua Xu and Gongtao Fan and Zirui Hao and Longxiang Liu and Yue Zhang and Sheng Jin and Zhicai Li and Pu Jiao and Qiankun Sun and Zhenwei Wang and Mengdie Zhou and Mengke Xu and Hongwei Wang and Wenqing Shen and Yugang Ma},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.00767},
  year   = {2025}
}

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8 pages