Generation of gamma photons and pairs with transverse orbital angular momentum via spatiotemporal optical vortex pulse

Abstract

We present the generation of well-collimated gamma photons and pairs with extrinsic transverse orbital angular momentum (TOAM) through the head-on collision of an intense spatiotemporal optical vortex (STOV) pulse carrying intrinsic TOAM and a high-energy electron beam. It is found that the TOAM of STOV pulse remains almost unchanged, and the TOAM is conserved in the center-of-mass frame. Moreover, there exhibits a duality for particles TOAM in the CMF and laboratory frame when the initial location of high-energy electron beam is different. Furthermore, the TOAM of gamma photons in the CMF increases while that of positrons decreases as the topological charge of STOV pulse increases, whereas in the LF, the TOAM of both gamma photons and positrons decreases. The result under the same pulse intensity is better than that under the same pulse energy. The increase in the initial energy of high-energy electrons leads to an enhancement of the TOAM of both gamma photons and positrons in both frames. Gamma photons and electrons/positrons with TOAM as a new degree of freedom may have extensive applications in optical communication, astrophysics, nanomaterials, and other fields.