Spin effects in nonlinear Compton scattering in a plane-wave laser pulse

We study theoretically the electron angular and energy distribution in the non-linear Compton effect in a finite plane-wave laser pulse. We first present analytical and numerical results for unpolarized electrons (described by a Volkov solution of the Dirac equation), in comparison with those corresponding to a spinless particle (obeying the Klein-Gordon equation). Then, in the spin 1/2 case, we include results for the spin flip probability. The regime in which the spin effects are negligible, i.e. the results for the unpolarized spin 1/2 particle coincide practically with those for the spinless particle, is the same as the regime in which the emitted radiation is well described by classical electrodynamics.