MeV-and Sub-MeV-photon Sources Based on Compton Backscattering at SPring-8 and KPSI-JAEA

Recently we have constructed two facilities for generating photon beams in the MeV and sub-MeV energy regions by means of the Compton backscattering with a laser and an electron beam at SPring-8 and at Kansai Photon Science Institute of Japan Atomic Energy Agency(KPSI-JAEA). The MeV-photon source at SPring-8 consists of a continuous-wave optically-pumped far infrared laser with a wavelength of 118.8 μm and an 8 GeV stored electron beam. Present MeV-photon flux is estimated to be 1.3×103 photons/s. On the other hand,the sub-MeV-photon source at KPSI-JAEA consists of a pulse Nd∶YAG laser with a wavelength of 1 064 nm and a 150 MeV electron beam accelerated by microtron. In the first trial of the photon production in this source,backscattered photon flux is estimated to be 20 photons/pulse. Both the Compton backscattered photon sources have possibilities to be used for new tools in various fields such as nuclear physics,materials science,and astronomy.