Modelling gamma-ray photon emission and pair production in high-intensity laser–matter interactions

Ridgers, C. P.; Kirk, J. G.; Duclous, Roland; Blackburn, Tom; Brady, Christopher S.; Bennett, Keith; Arber, T. D.; Bell, A. R.

doi:10.1016/j.jcp.2013.12.007

Cited by 378 publications

(400 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(75 reference statements)

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“…It does this by factorizing the cascade into a product of first-order processes (nonlinear Compton scattering and Breit-Wheeler pair creation), which occur along the particle trajectory at locations pseudorandomly determined according to the appropriate LCFA probability rate. (See [45,46] for detailed discussion of this 'QED-PIC' concept. )…”

Section: The Positron Yield and Optimal Target Thicknessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear Breit–Wheeler pair creation with bremsstrahlungγrays

Blackburn¹,

Marklund²

2018

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

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Electron-positron pairs are produced through the Breit-Wheeler process when energetic photons traverse electromagnetic fields of sufficient strength. Here we consider a possible experimental geometry for observation of pair creation in the highly nonlinear regime, in which bremsstrahlung of an ultrarelativistic electron beam in a high-Z target is used to produce γ rays that collide with a counterpropagating laser pulse. We show how the target thickness may be chosen to optimize the yield of Breit-Wheeler positrons, and verify our analytical predictions with simulations of the cascade in the material and in the laser pulse. The electron beam energy and laser intensity required are well within the capability of today's high-intensity laser facilities.

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Section: The Positron Yield and Optimal Target Thicknessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear Breit–Wheeler pair creation with bremsstrahlungγrays

Blackburn¹,

Marklund²

2018

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

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“…This is confirmed by using three-dimensional QED particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations based on code EPOCH [34,35], which includes QED effects to deal with the quantum radiation. It has been found that the OAM of high energy gamma-ray photons is transferred from the spin angular momentum (SAM) and OAM of the driving laser.…”

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confidence: 78%

Generation of gamma-ray beam with orbital angular momentum in the QED regime

et al. 2016

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We propose a scheme to generate gamma-ray photons with an orbital angular momentum (OAM) and high energy simultaneously from laser-plasma interactions by irradiating a circularly polarized Laguerre-Gaussian laser on a thin plasma target. The spin angular momentum and OAM are first transferred to electrons from the driving laser photons, and then the OAM is transferred to the gamma-ray photons from the electrons through quantum radiation. This scheme has been demonstrated using threedimensional quantum electrodynamics particle-in-cell simulation. The topological charge, chirality and carrier-envelope phase of the short ultra-intense vortex laser can be revealed according to the pattern feature of the energy density of radiated photons.

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“…In line with the current understanding of high-intensity laser matter interactions in the quantum regime, we model photon emission as a succession of incoherent one-photon events [17,[25][26][27]. There will be regimes where this assumption becomes challenged, for instance when extreme field strengths are reached such that αχ 2=3 ≳ 1.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…For these codes to be used for depletion calculations, each Compton process needs to be characterized by photon energy, angle of emission, and the number of absorbed photons. Furthermore, in numerical (QED-particle-in-cell) simulations of multistage emission processes, which lead to the formation of avalanches or cascades, photon and electron emission angles strongly determine the probability of the subsequent pair production or photon emission process, respectively [4,17,25,27,30,31]. We hence proceed by calculating these quantities.…”

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confidence: 99%

Depletion of intense fields

Bulanov¹,

Seipt²,

Heinzl³

et al. 2017

AIP Conference Proceedings

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The interaction of charged particles and photons with intense electromagnetic fields gives rise to multiphoton Compton and Breit-Wheeler processes. These are usually described in the framework of the external field approximation, where the electromagnetic field is assumed to have infinite energy. However, the multiphoton nature of these processes implies the absorption of a significant number of photons, which scales as the external field amplitude cubed. As a result, the interaction of a highly charged electron bunch with an intense laser pulse can lead to significant depletion of the laser pulse energy, thus rendering the external field approximation invalid. We provide relevant estimates for this depletion and find it to become important in the interaction between fields of amplitude a 0 ∼ 10 3 and electron bunches with charges of the order of 10 nC. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.154803 The interaction of charged particles with ultraintense electromagnetic (EM) pulses is the cornerstone of a newly emerging area of research, high intensity particle physics, located at the intersection of quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the theory of strong EM background fields. The latter significantly alter the physics of typical QED processes, leading to effects not encountered in perturbative quantum field theory [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in these processes due to the planning and realization of new laser facilities, which will be able to deliver EM pulses of unprecedented intensities to test the predictions of high intensity particle physics [2]. Moreover, the development of compact multi-GeV laser electron accelerators [1,2,7,8] adds another component necessary to carry out these studies.Here, we will assume that the strong EM field is provided by an ultraintense laser (pulse) with wave vector k, central frequency ω ¼ 2π=λ in the optical regime, and electric field magnitude E. The interactions of this strong field with photons and charged particles are parametrized in terms of the following parameters (we use natural units throughout, Here, e and m are electron charge and mass, F μν is the EM field tensor, while p ν and k 0 ν denote the four momenta of electron and photon probing the laser. The parameter a 0 is usually referred to as the classical nonlinearity parameter, since its physical meaning is the energy gain of an electron (in units m) traversing a reduced wavelength ƛ ¼ 1=ω of the field. For a 0 > 1 the electron or positron motion in such a field becomes relativistic.The parameter E S characterizes a distinct feature of QED, the ability to produce new particles from vacuum. This happens when an energy of mc 2 is delivered across an electron Compton wavelength ƛ e ¼ 1=m, which is precisely achieved by E S [10]. The parameters χ e and χ γ characterize the interaction of charged particles and photons with the strong EM field. For example, χ e is the EM field strength in the electron rest frame in units of E S . Quantum effects become of crucial importance when E ≈ E S or χ ...

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Modelling gamma-ray photon emission and pair production in high-intensity laser–matter interactions

Cited by 378 publications

References 55 publications

Nonlinear Breit–Wheeler pair creation with bremsstrahlungγrays

Nonlinear Breit–Wheeler pair creation with bremsstrahlungγrays

Generation of gamma-ray beam with orbital angular momentum in the QED regime

Depletion of intense fields

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