Single attosecond pulse generation by nonlinear Thomson scattering in a tightly focused intense laser beam

The relativistic nonlinear Thomson scattering of a tightly focused intense laser pulse by an electron is investigated, and the temporal and spectral characters of the radiation are discussed. In a tightly focused laser pulse with an intensity of approximately 1020W∕cm2 and a pulse duration of 20fs, the electron is scattered away from the focus quickly by the ponderomotive force and therefore the radiation emitted at the focus is much higher than that at other regions. As a result, a single ultrashort pulse of 3.8 as is generated and its corresponding spectrum is broadened to 200 orders of the frequency of the driving laser. With increasing the laser intensity, the signal-to-noise of the radiated pulse increases, and the pulse duration decreases. Moreover, the phase behavior of the spectral components and the dependence of the radiated power on the laser intensity are discussed.