Photon Orbital Angular Momentum Control by Electron Wavepackets in Nonlinear Compton Scattering

Abstract

Photon orbital angular momentum (OAM) generated in nonlinear Compton scattering has attracted considerable interest as a route toward vortex $γ$-ray sources. Existing theories describe photon OAM primarily through angular-momentum transfer involving structured incident particles and laser fields, while the role of electron-wavepacket has remained unexplored. Here, we develop a general analytical theory of nonlinear Compton scattering for arbitrarily shaped electron wave packets and demonstrate that the Fourier spectrum of the transverse electron wave packet directly determines the OAM spectrum of the emitted photons through a generalized angular-momentum selection rule. Our theory unifies Gaussian wave packets, vortex electrons, and arbitrarily shaped electron states within a single framework, revealing the transverse Fourier structure of electron wave packets as a fundamental degree of freedom governing photon orbital angular momentum and enabling deterministic engineering of photon OAM distributions.