Laser Created Relativistic Positron Jets
Electron-positron jets with MeV temperature are thought to be present in a wide variety of astrophysical phenomena such as active galaxies, quasars, gamma ray bursts and black holes. They have now been created in the laboratory in a controlled fashion by irradiating a gold target with an intense picosecond duration laser pulse. About 10{sup 11} MeV positrons are emitted from the rear surface of the target in a 15 to 22-degree cone for a duration comparable to the laser pulse. These positron jets are quasi-monoenergetic (E/{delta}E {approx} 5) with peak energies controllable from 3-19 MeV. They have temperatures from 1-4 MeV in the beam frame in both the longitudinal and transverse directions. Positron production has been studied extensively in recent decades at low energies (sub-MeV) in areas related to surface science, positron emission tomography, basic antimatter science such as antihydrogen experiments, Bose-Einstein condensed positronium, and basic plasma physics. However, the experimental tools to produce very high temperature positrons and high-flux positron jets needed to simulate astrophysical positron conditions have so far been absent. The MeV temperature jets of positrons and electrons produced in our experiments offer a first step to evaluate the physics models used to explain some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 989341
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-418061; PRLTAO; TRN: US1007068
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105; ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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