Synchrotron radiation, pair production, and longitudinal electron motion during 10-100 PW laser solid interactions
- Physics Department, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)
- Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PU (United Kingdom)
At laser intensities above 10{sup 23} W/cm{sup 2}, the interaction of a laser with a plasma is qualitatively different to the interactions at lower intensities. In this intensity regime, solid targets start to become relativistically underdense, gamma-ray production by synchrotron emission starts to become an important feature of the dynamics and, at even higher intensities, electron-positron pair production by the non-linear Breit-Wheeler process starts to occur. In this paper, an analysis is presented of the effects of target density, laser intensity, target preplasma properties, and other parameters on the conversion efficiency, spectrum, and angular distribution of gamma-rays by synchrotron emission. An analysis of the importance of Breit-Wheeler pair production is also presented. Target electron densities between 10{sup 22} cm{sup −3} and 5 × 10{sup 24} cm{sup −3} and laser intensities covering the range between 10{sup 21} W/cm{sup 2} (available with current generation laser facilities) and 10{sup 24} W/cm{sup 2} (upper intensity range expected from the ELI facility are considered. Results are explained in terms of the behaviour of the head of the laser pulse as it interacts with the target.
- OSTI ID:
- 22251866
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Strong field physics and QED experiments with ELI-NP 2×10PW laser beams
Energy partition, γ-ray emission, and radiation reaction in the near-quantum electrodynamical regime of laser-plasma interaction