2017/12/28 by Oliver Jansen, O Jansen, Tao Wang +8
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Beam (structure) #Collimated light #Fusion and Plasma Physics Studies #Laser #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Magnetic field #Pair production #Plasma #Pulse (music) #Radiation #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1361-6587/aab222
arxiv created 2017/12/28 · openalex created_date 2018/01/05 · openalex publication_date 2018/02/26 · arxiv updated 2018/04/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract The 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 10 3 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.