High e+/e– ratio dense pair creation with 1021W.cm–2 laser irradiating solid targets

Liang, E.; Clarke, T.; Henderson, A.; Fu, W.; Lo, W.; Taylor, D.; Chaguine, P.; Zhou, S.; Hua, Y.; Cen, X.; Wang, X.; Kao, J.; Hasson, H.; Dyer, G.; Serratto, K.; Riley, N.; Donovan, M.; Ditmire, T.

doi:10.1038/srep13968

Title: High e+/e– ratio dense pair creation with 10²¹W.cm^–2 laser irradiating solid targets

Journal Article · Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Scientific Reports

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep13968 · OSTI ID:1325563

Liang, E. ^[1]; Clarke, T. ^[2]; Henderson, A. ^[2]; Fu, W. ^[2]; Lo, W. ^[2]; Taylor, D. ^[2]; Chaguine, P. ^[2]; Zhou, S. ^[2]; Hua, Y. ^[2]; Cen, X. ^[2]; Wang, X. ^[2]; Kao, J. ^[2]; Hasson, H. ^[3]; Dyer, G. ^[4]; Serratto, K. ^[4]; Riley, N. ^[4]; Donovan, M. ^[4]; Ditmire, T. ^[4]

Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States); Rice University
Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States); Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

In this study, we report results of new pair creation experiments using ~100 Joule pulses of the Texas Petawatt Laser to irradiate solid gold and platinum targets, with intensities up to ~1.9 × 10²¹ W.cm^–2 and pulse durations as short as ~130 fs. Positron to electron (e+/e–) ratios >15% were observed for many thick disk and rod targets, with the highest e+/e– ratio reaching ~50% for a Pt rod. The inferred pair yield was ~ few ×10¹⁰ with emerging pair density reaching ~10¹⁵/cm³ so that the pair skin depth becomes < pair jet transverse size. These results represent major milestones towards the goal of creating a significant quantity of dense pair-dominated plasmas with e+/e– approaching 100% and pair skin depth << pair plasma size, which will have wide-ranging applications to astrophysics and fundamental physics.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0001481

OSTI ID:: 1325563

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Vol. 5; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (51)

Generation of neutral and high-density electron–positron pair plasmas in the laboratory Sarri, G.; Poder, K.; Cole, J. M. Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7747	journal	April 2015
Optimizing electron-positron pair production on kilojoule-class high-intensity lasers for the purpose of pair-plasma creation Myatt, J.; Delettrez, J. A.; Maximov, A. V. Physical Review E, Vol. 79, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.79.066409	journal	June 2009
Comment on “Relativistic Positron Creation Using Ultraintense Short Pulse Lasers” Cassidy, D. B.; Mills, A. P. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.103.179501	journal	October 2009
Relativistic Quasimonoenergetic Positron Jets from Intense Laser-Solid Interactions Chen, Hui; Wilks, S. C.; Meyerhofer, D. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.105.015003	journal	July 2010
Absorption of ultra-intense laser pulses Wilks, S. C.; Kruer, W. L.; Tabak, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 69, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.69.1383	journal	August 1992
Estimations of electron-positron pair production at high-intensity laser interaction with high-Z targets Gryaznykh, D. A.; Kandiev, Y. Z.; Lykov, V. A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.physics/9909034	text	January 1999
High Energy Electrons, Positrons and Photonuclear Reactions in Petawatt Laser-Solid Experiments Cowan, T. E.; Hunt, A. W.; Johnson, J. High-Field Science https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1299-8_11	book	January 2000
Monte Carlo simulation of pair creation using petawatt lasers Henderson, Alexander; Liang, Edison; Yepes, Pablo Astrophysics and Space Science, Vol. 336, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-011-0678-x	journal	March 2011
Intense laser pair creation and applications Liang, Edison High Energy Density Physics, Vol. 6, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hedp.2010.01.012	journal	June 2010
Hot electron production using the Texas Petawatt Laser irradiating thick gold targets Taylor, Devin; Liang, Edison; Clarke, Taylor High Energy Density Physics, Vol. 9, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hedp.2013.02.002	journal	June 2013
Positron Physics Charlton, M.; Humberston, J. W. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535208	journal	January 2009
High energy electrons, nuclear phenomena and heating in petawatt laser-solid experiments Cowan, T. E.; Perry, M. D.; Key, M. H. Laser and Particle Beams, Vol. 17, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0263034699174238	journal	October 1999
Positron Physics Charlton, M.; Humberston, J. W. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511535208	journal	January 2009
High energy electrons, nuclear phenomena and heating in petawatt laser-solid experiments Cowan, T. E.; Perry, M. D.; Key, M. H. Laser and Particle Beams, Vol. 17, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0263034699174238	journal	October 1999
Petawatt laser absorption bounded Levy, Matthew C.; Wilks, Scott C.; Tabak, Max Nature Communications, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5149	journal	June 2014
Generation of neutral and high-density electron–positron pair plasmas in the laboratory Sarri, G.; Poder, K.; Cole, J. M. Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7747	journal	April 2015
Energetic proton generation in ultra-intense laser–solid interactions Wilks, S. C.; Langdon, A. B.; Cowan, T. E. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 8, Issue 2, p. 542-549 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1333697	journal	February 2001
Generation of MeV electrons and positrons with femtosecond pulses from a table-top laser system Gahn, C.; Tsakiris, G. D.; Pretzler, G. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 9, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1446879	journal	March 2002
Numerical study of pair creation by ultraintense lasers Nakashima, Ken’ichi; Takabe, Hideaki Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 9, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1464145	journal	May 2002
Calibration of imaging plate for high energy electron spectrometer Tanaka, Kazuo A.; Yabuuchi, Toshinori; Sato, Takashi Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 76, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1824371	journal	January 2005
Absolute calibration of image plates for electrons at energy between 100keV and 4MeV Chen, Hui; Back, Norman L.; Bartal, Teresa Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 79, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2885045	journal	March 2008
Bremsstrahlung and Kα fluorescence measurements for inferring conversion efficiencies into fast ignition relevant hot electrons Chen, C. D.; Patel, P. K.; Hey, D. S. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3183693	journal	August 2009
Making relativistic positrons using ultraintense short pulse lasers Chen, Hui; Wilks, S. C.; Bonlie, J. D. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3271355	journal	December 2009
Monte Carlo simulation study of positron generation in ultra-intense laser-solid interactions Yan, Yonghong; Wu, Yuchi; Zhao, Zongqing Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3686109	journal	February 2012
Magnetic collimation of relativistic positrons and electrons from high intensity laser–matter interactions Chen, Hui; Fiksel, G.; Barnak, D. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4873711	journal	April 2014
Laser-driven generation of collimated ultra-relativistic positron beams Sarri, G.; Schumaker, W.; Di Piazza, A. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 55, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/55/12/124017	journal	November 2013
Pair Production by Relativistic Electrons from an Intense Laser Focus Shearer, J. W.; Garrison, J.; Wong, J. Physical Review A, Vol. 8, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.8.1582	journal	September 1973
Pair and γ -photon production from a thin foil confined by two laser pulses Shen, Baifei; Meyer-ter-Vehn, J. Physical Review E, Vol. 65, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.65.016405	journal	December 2001
Optimizing electron-positron pair production on kilojoule-class high-intensity lasers for the purpose of pair-plasma creation Myatt, J.; Delettrez, J. A.; Maximov, A. V. Physical Review E, Vol. 79, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.066409	journal	June 2009
Relativistic Positron Creation Using Ultraintense Short Pulse Lasers Chen, Hui; Wilks, Scott C.; Bonlie, James D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.105001	journal	March 2009
Relativistic Quasimonoenergetic Positron Jets from Intense Laser-Solid Interactions Chen, Hui; Wilks, S. C.; Meyerhofer, D. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.015003	journal	July 2010
Table-Top Laser-Based Source of Femtosecond, Collimated, Ultrarelativistic Positron Beams Sarri, G.; Schumaker, W.; Di Piazza, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.255002	journal	June 2013
Laser Electron Accelerator Tajima, T.; Dawson, J. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.267	journal	July 1979
Absorption of ultra-intense laser pulses Wilks, S. C.; Kruer, W. L.; Tabak, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 69, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.1383	journal	August 1992
Pair Production by Ultraintense Lasers Liang, Edison P.; Wilks, Scott C.; Tabak, Max Physical Review Letters, Vol. 81, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.4887	journal	November 1998
Pair Production by Relativistic Electrons from an Intense Laser Focus Shearer, J. W.; Garrison, J.; Wong, J. Physical Review A, Vol. 8, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.8.1582	journal	September 1973
Pair and γ -photon production from a thin foil confined by two laser pulses Shen, Baifei; Meyer-ter-Vehn, J. Physical Review E, Vol. 65, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.65.016405	journal	December 2001
Optimizing electron-positron pair production on kilojoule-class high-intensity lasers for the purpose of pair-plasma creation Myatt, J.; Delettrez, J. A.; Maximov, A. V. Physical Review E, Vol. 79, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.79.066409	journal	June 2009
Relativistic Positron Creation Using Ultraintense Short Pulse Lasers Chen, Hui; Wilks, Scott C.; Bonlie, James D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.102.105001	journal	March 2009
Relativistic Quasimonoenergetic Positron Jets from Intense Laser-Solid Interactions Chen, Hui; Wilks, S. C.; Meyerhofer, D. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.105.015003	journal	July 2010
Table-Top Laser-Based Source of Femtosecond, Collimated, Ultrarelativistic Positron Beams Sarri, G.; Schumaker, W.; Di Piazza, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.110.255002	journal	June 2013
Laser Electron Accelerator Tajima, T.; Dawson, J. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.43.267	journal	July 1979
Absorption of ultra-intense laser pulses Wilks, S. C.; Kruer, W. L.; Tabak, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 69, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.69.1383	journal	August 1992
Pair Production by Ultraintense Lasers Liang, Edison P.; Wilks, Scott C.; Tabak, Max Physical Review Letters, Vol. 81, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.81.4887	journal	November 1998
The Texas Petawatt Laser Martinez, Mikael; Gaul, Erhard; Ditmire, Todd SPIE Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1117/12.638939	conference	October 2005
Estimates of electron-positron pair production in the interaction of high-power laser radiation with high-Z targets Gryaznykh, D. A.; Kandiev, Ya. Z.; Lykov, V. A. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters, Vol. 67, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1134/1.567660	journal	February 1998
Short Pulse Laser Interactions with Matter: An Introduction Gibbon, Paul https://doi.org/10.1142/p116	book	September 2005
Plasma Physics via Computer Simulation Birdsall, C. K.; Langdon, A. B. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315275048	book	January 1991
Positron Physics de Lima, Adriano; Gordo, Paulo Nuclear Medicine Physics https://doi.org/10.1201/b10364-4	book	November 2010
Plasma Physics via Computer Simulation Birdsall, C. K.; Langdon, A. B. https://doi.org/10.1887/0750301171	book	January 1991
Petawatt laser absorption bounded Levy, Matthew C.; Wilks, Scott C.; Tabak, Max arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1407.6773	text	January 2014

Cited By (18)

Debye length and plasma skin depth: two length scales of interest in the creation and diagnosis of laboratory pair plasmas Stenson, E. V.; Horn-Stanja, J.; Stoneking, M. R. Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022377817000022	journal	February 2017
Dense GeV electron–positron pairs generated by lasers in near-critical-density plasmas Zhu, Xing-Long; Yu, Tong-Pu; Sheng, Zheng-Ming Nature Communications, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13686	journal	December 2016
Ultrashort megaelectronvolt positron beam generation based on laser-accelerated electrons Xu, Tongjun; Shen, Baifei; Xu, Jiancai Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4943280	journal	March 2016
Expansion of a mildly relativistic hot pair cloud into an electron-proton plasma Dieckmann, M. E.; Alejo, A.; Sarri, G. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5036954	journal	June 2018
Collimated GeV attosecond electron–positron bunches from a plasma channel driven by 10 PW lasers Zhu, Xing-Long; Chen, Min; Yu, Tong-Pu Matter and Radiation at Extremes, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5083914	journal	January 2019
Gradient magnet design for simultaneous detection of electrons and positrons in the intermediate MeV range Tiwari, G.; Kupfer, R.; Jiao, X. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 90, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5099155	journal	August 2019
MeV photoelectron spectrometer for ultraintense laser interactions with atoms and molecules Luo, S. Y.; Grugan, P. D.; Demircioglu, Z. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 90, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5116589	journal	July 2019
High-energy radiation and pair production by Coulomb processes in particle-in-cell simulations Martinez, B.; Lobet, M.; Duclous, R. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5118339	journal	October 2019
Spectral and spatial characterisation of laser-driven positron beams Sarri, G.; Warwick, J.; Schumaker, W. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 59, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/59/1/014015	journal	October 2016
Generation of GeV positron and γ -photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers Zhu, Xing-Long; Yu, Tong-Pu; Chen, Min New Journal of Physics, Vol. 20, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aad71a	journal	August 2018
Improved large-energy-range magnetic electron-positron spectrometer for experiments with the Texas Petawatt Laser Glenn, G. D.; Tiwari, G.; Dyer, G. Journal of Instrumentation, Vol. 14, Issue 03 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/14/03/p03012	journal	March 2019
Scaling laws for positron production in laser–electron-beam collisions Blackburn, T. G.; Ilderton, A.; Murphy, C. D. Physical Review A, Vol. 96, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.96.022128	journal	August 2017
Experimental Observation of a Current-Driven Instability in a Neutral Electron-Positron Beam Warwick, J.; Dzelzainis, T.; Dieckmann, M. E. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 119, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.119.185002	journal	November 2017
Polarized Positron Beams via Intense Two-Color Laser Pulses Chen, Yue-Yue; He, Pei-Lun; Shaisultanov, Rashid Physical Review Letters, Vol. 123, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.174801	journal	October 2019
Polarized positron beams via intense two-color laser pulses Chen, Yue-Yue; He, Pei-Lun; Shaisultanov, Rashid Unpublished https://doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.2.33022.23362	text	January 2019
Scaling laws for positron production in laser--electron-beam collisions Blackburn, T. G.; Ilderton, A.; Murphy, C. D. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1708.00298	text	January 2017
Gradient Magnet Design for Simultaneous Detection of Electrons and Positrons in the Intermediate MeV Range Tiwari, Ganesh; Kupfer, Rotem; Jiao, Xuejing arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1904.03143	text	January 2019
Polarized positron beams via intense two-color laser pulses Chen, Yue-Yue; He, Pei-Lun; Shaisultanov, Rashid arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1904.04110	text	January 2019

Similar Records

Dense Pair and Gamma-Ray Creation Using Ultra-Intense Lasers (Final Technical Report)

Technical Report · Sun Jan 03 23:00:00 EST 2021 · OSTI ID:1755377

Liang, Edison

Identifying the electron–positron cascade regimes in high-intensity laser-matter interactions

Journal Article · Tue Jan 29 23:00:00 EST 2019 · New Journal of Physics · OSTI ID:1503402

Slade-Lowther, C.; Del Sorbo, D.; Ridgers, Christopher P.

Measurement of the rare decay. pi. /sup 0/. -->. e/sup +/e/sup -/

Journal Article · Mon Apr 26 00:00:00 EDT 1982 · Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States) · OSTI ID:5230368

Mischke, R E; Frank, J S; Hoffman, C M; +4 more

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Title: High e+/e– ratio dense pair creation with 1021W.cm–2 laser irradiating solid targets

Citation Formats

References (51)

Cited By (18)

Similar Records

Related Subjects

Title: High e+/e– ratio dense pair creation with 10²¹W.cm^–2 laser irradiating solid targets