Leveraging extreme laser-driven magnetic fields for gamma-ray generation and pair production
Leveraging extreme laser-driven magnetic fields for gamma-ray generation and pair production
Jansen, O.; Wang, T.; Stark, D. J.; D'Humieres, E.; Toncian, T.; Arefiev, A. V.
he ability of an intense laser pulse to propagate in a classically over-critical plasma through the phenomenon of relativistic transparency is shown to facilitate the generation of strong plasma magnetic fields. Particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that these fields significantly enhance the radiation rates of the laser-irradiated electrons, and furthermore they collimate the emission so that a directed and dense beam of multi-MeV gamma-rays is achievable. This capability can be exploited for electron-positron pair production via the linear Breit-Wheeler process by colliding two such dense beams. Presented simulations show that more than 103 pairs can be produced in such a setup, and the directionality of the positrons can be controlled by the angle of incidence between the beams.
Keywords: plasma channel; pair creation; high energy radiation; laser acceleration; relativistictransparency; ultra-high magneticfiel
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Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 60(2018), 054006
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6587/aab222
Cited 43 times in Scopus
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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-27694