Emission of polarized photons from unpolarized electrons moving in crystals

Abstract

Radiation emitted by unpolarized high-energy electrons penetrating crystals may be linearly polarized. This occurs when the particle velocity makes an angle, with respect to some major crystal axis, being sufficiently larger than the axial-channelling angle. For such orientation, a complete description of spectral and polarization characteristics of the radiation is derived. At planar channelling, a non-perturbative contribution to the probability of the process appears caused by the plane field, and we must solve exactly a one~-~dimensional mechanical problem. For that, the approximate form of the actual plane potential is suggested which provides a precise fit for any crystal plane and an analytical solution to the motion problem. In a practical case, we must consider electron-photon showers developing in sufficiently thick crystals. For the first time, this development is described taking into account the polarization of photons. We discuss qualitative features of the phenomenon, present results of numerical calculations for thin and thick crystals, and evaluate the possibility of the use of differently oriented crystals in a polarized hard photon source.