2018/11/30 by C. Baumann, E. N. Nerush, A. Pukhov +1 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Attosecond #Electron #Laser #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron Lasers #Perturbation (astronomy) #Perturbation theory (quantum mechanics) #Quantum #Radiative transfer #Supercritical fluid #hep-ph #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-45582-5
published as Scientific Reports 9, 9407 (2019) · 10 pages, 6 figures; version 2: slightly new title and abstract, various discussions extended, updated references; matches final version
openalex created_date 2018/11/16 · arxiv created 2019/06/28 · openalex publication_date 2019/06/28 · arxiv updated 2019/07/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract The vast majority of QED results are obtained in relatively weak fields and so in the framework of perturbation theory. However, forthcoming laser facilities providing extremely high fields can be used to enter not-yet-studied regimes. Here, a scheme is proposed that might be used to reach a supercritical regime of radiation reaction or even the fully non-perturbative regime of quantum electrodynamics. The scheme considers the collision of a 100 GeV-class electron beam with a counterpropagating ultraintense electromagnetic pulse. To reach these supercritical regimes, it is unavoidable to use a pulse with ultrashort duration. Using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, it is therefore shown how one can convert a next-generation optical laser to an ultraintense ( I ≈ 2.9 × 10 24 Wcm −2 ) attosecond (duration ≈ 150 as) pulse. It is shown that if the perturbation theory persists in extreme fields, the spectrum of secondary particles can be found semi-analytically. In contrast, a comparison with experimental data may allow differentiating the contribution of high-order radiative corrections if the perturbation theory breaks.