Making Relativistic Positrons Using Ultra-Intense Short Pulse Lasers
This paper describes a new positron source produced using ultra-intense short pulse lasers. Although it has been studied in theory since as early as the 1970s, the use of lasers as a valuable new positron source was not demonstrated experimentally until recent years, when the petawatt-class short pulse lasers were developed. In 2008 and 2009, in a series of experiments performed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a large number of positrons were observed after shooting a millimeter thick solid gold target. Up to 2 x 10{sup 10} positrons per steradian ejected out the back of {approx}mm thick gold targets were detected. The targets were illuminated with short ({approx}1 ps) ultra-intense ({approx}1 x 10{sup 20} W/cm{sup 2}) laser pulses. These positrons are produced predominantly by the Bethe-Heitler process, and have an effective temperature of 2-4 MeV, with the distribution peaking at 4-7 MeV. The angular distribution of the positrons is anisotropic. For a wide range of applications, this new laser based positron source with its unique characteristics may complements the existing sources using radioactive isotopes and accelerators.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 971409
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-416496; PHPAEN; TRN: US1001196
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 12; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Relativistic Positron Creation Using Ultra-Intense Short Pulse Lasers
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