2014/07/31 by Sebastian Meuren, Karen Z. Hatsagortsyan, Christoph H. Keitel +2 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Annihilation #Atomic physics #Electron #Laser #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Laser-induced spectroscopy and plasma #Nuclear physics #Optics #Pair production #Photon #Photon energy #Physics #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Positron #Wavelength #hep-ph #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.114.143201
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 143201 (2015) · 7 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2015/04/03 · openalex publication_date 2015/04/09 · arxiv updated 2015/04/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Two oppositely charged particles created within a microscopic space-time region can be separated, accelerated over a much larger distance, and brought to a recollision by a laser field. Consequently, new reactions become feasible, where the energy absorbed by the particles is efficiently released. By investigating the laser-dressed polarization operator, we identify a new contribution describing high-energy recollisions experienced by an electron-positron pair generated by pure light when a gamma photon impinges on an intense, linearly polarized laser pulse. The energy absorbed in the recollision process over the macroscopic laser wavelength corresponds to a large number of laser photons and can be exploited to prime high-energy reactions. Thus, the recollision contribution to the polarization operator differs qualitatively and quantitatively from the well-known one, describing the annihilation of an electron-positron pair within the microscopic formation region.