Ultra-bright gamma-ray emission and dense positron production from two laser-driven colliding foils

Year: 2017

Authors: Li HZ., Yu TP., Liu JJ., Yin Y., Zhu XL., Capdessus R., Pegoraro F., Sheng, Z.Mi., McKenna P., Shao FQ.

Autors Affiliation: Natl Univ Def Technol, Coll Sci, Changsha 410073, Hunan, Peoples R China; Univ Strathclyde, SUPA, Dept Phys, Glasgow G4 0NG, Lanark, Scotland; Inst Appl Phys & Computat Math, Beijing 100094, Peoples R China; Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ, CICIFSA, Key Lab Laser Plasmas MoE, Shanghai 200240, Peoples R China; Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ, Sch Phys & Astron, Shanghai 200240, Peoples R China; Univ Pisa, Dept Phys Enrico Fermi, I-56122 Pisa, Italy; CNR, INO, I-56122 Pisa, Italy; Tsung Dao Lee Inst, Shanghai 200240, Peoples R China; Sci Tech Daresbury, Cockcroft Inst, Warrington WA4 4AD, Cheshire, England.

Abstract: Matter can be transferred into energy and the opposite transformation is also possible by use of high power lasers. A laser pulse in plasma can convert its energy into gamma-rays and then e(-)e(+) pairs via the multi-photon Breit-Wheeler process. Production of dense positrons at GeV energies is very challenging since extremely high laser intensity similar to 10(24) Wcm(-2) is required. Here we propose an all-optical scheme for ultra-bright gamma-ray emission and dense positron production with lasers at intensity of 10(22-23) Wcm(-2). By irradiating two colliding elliptically-polarized lasers onto two diamondlike carbon foils, electrons in the focal region of one foil are rapidly accelerated by the laser radiation pressure and interact with the other intense laser pulse which penetrates through the second foil due to relativistically induced foil transparency. This symmetric configuration enables efficient Compton back-scattering and results in ultra-bright gamma-photon emission with brightness of similar to 10(25) photons/s/mm(2)/mrad(2)/0.1% BW at 15 MeV and intensity of 5 x 10(23) Wcm(-2). Our first three-dimensional simulation with quantum-electrodynamics incorporated shows that a GeV positron beam with density of 2.5 x 10(22) cm(-3) and flux of 1.6 x 10(10)/shot is achieved. Collective effects of the pair plasma may be also triggered, offering a window on investigating laboratory astrophysics at PW laser facilities.

Journal/Review: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

Volume: 7      Pages from: 17312-1  to: 17312-12

More Information: We acknowledge encouraging discussions with E. Turcu, F. Wan, and M. King. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 11622547, 11474360, 11375265, 11675264, and 11475030), Science Challenge Project (No. TZ2016005), National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CBA01504), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2017JJ1003) and Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Program (Grant No. 2017RS3042), Research Project of NUDT (JQ14-02-02), EPSRC (Grant No. EP/M018091/1, EP/R006202/1, and EP/P007082/1), and a Leverhulme Trust Grant at Strathclyde. The EPOCH code was developed as part of the UK EPSRC grant EP/G054940/1. All simulations were performed on TianHe High Performance Computers at NUDT.
KeyWords: pair production; ultraintense lasers; overdense plasmas; transpareny; electrons
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17605-6

Citations: 26
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