Patent ID: 7295653

Claim:
A Compton backscattering x-ray system, comprising: a passive high finesse optical resonator having a cavity length and a resonant frequency, comprising: a first optical mirror; a second optical mirror separated from said first optical mirror to define an optical path intersecting an interaction point, said second optical mirror being transmissive to x-rays; each optical mirror of said passive high finesse optical resonator having a continuous mirror surface coated with a very high reflectivity coating, each optical mirror having a diameter selected to intercept substantially all of the energy of optical pulses circulating within said passive high finesse optical resonator; an optical coupler for coupling light into said passive high finesse optical resonator wherein input optical pulses having a frequency about said resonant frequency coupled into said passive high finesse optical resonator by said optical coupler; mode-locked laser for generating a train of input optical pulses at a selected repetition rate, said mode-locked laser configured to have an adjustable laser frequency; a controller monitoring an optical attribute associated with said passive high finesse optical resonator and in response adjusting the laser frequency of said mode-locked laser to match said resonant frequency of said passive high finesse optical resonator; and an optical path length adjuster for adjusting the cavity length of said passive high finesse optical resonator to synchronize timing of optical pulses stored in said passive high finesse optical resonator with an electron beam of an electron storage ring of said Compton backscattering x-ray system; said passive high finesse optical resonator configured to increase the power of input optical pulses via resonant reflections without the use of an internal optical gain medium.