Efficient Propagation of Polarization from Laser Photons to Positrons through Compton Scattering and Electron-Positron Pair Creation

We have demonstrated for the first time the production of highly polarized short-pulse positrons with a finite energy spread in accordance with a new scheme that consists of two-quantum processes, such as inverse Compton scattering and electron-positron pair creation. Using a circularly polarized laser beam of 532 nm scattered off a high-quality, 1.28 GeV electron beam, we have obtained polarized positrons with an intensity of 2 x 10(4) e+ /bunch. The magnitude of positron polarization has been determined to be 73 +/- 15(stat) +/- 19(syst)% by means of a newly designed positron polarimeter.