Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers

Xing-Long Zhu; Tong-Pu Yu; Min Chen; Su-Ming Weng; Zheng-Ming Sheng

doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aad71a

Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers

Xing-Long Zhu, Tong-Pu Yu, Min Chen, Su-Ming Weng, Zheng-Ming Sheng

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

6 Citations (Scopus)

12 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Although several laser–plasma-based methods have been proposed for generating energetic electrons, positrons and γ-photons, manipulation of their microstructures is still challenging, and their angular momentum control has not yet been achieved. Here, we present and numerically demonstrate an all-optical scheme to generate bright GeV γ-photon and positron beams with controllable angular momentum by use of two counter-propagating circularly-polarized lasers in a near-critical-density plasma. The plasma acts as a 'switching medium', where the trapped electrons first obtain angular momentum from the drive laser pulse and then transfer it to the γ-photons via nonlinear Compton scattering. Further through the multiphoton Breit–Wheeler process, dense energetic positron beams are efficiently generated, whose angular momentum can be well controlled by laser–plasma interactions. This opens up a promising and feasible way to produce ultra-bright GeV γ-photons and positron beams with desirable angular momentum for a wide range of scientific research and applications.

Original language	English
Article number	083013
Number of pages	11
Journal	New Journal of Physics
Volume	20
Early online date	9 Aug 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aad71a
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 9 Aug 2018

Fingerprint

photon beams

positrons

angular momentum

lasers

photons

plasma density

manipulators

counters

electrons

microstructure

pulses

scattering

interactions

Keywords

electron–positron plasmas
gamma-ray generation in plasmas
high intensity laser–plasma interactions
angular momentum transfer
radiation-dominated regime

Cite this

Zhu, X-L., Yu, T-P., Chen, M., Weng, S-M., & Sheng, Z-M. (2018). Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers. New Journal of Physics, 20, [083013]. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aad71a

Zhu, Xing-Long ; Yu, Tong-Pu ; Chen, Min ; Weng, Su-Ming ; Sheng, Zheng-Ming. / Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers. In: New Journal of Physics. 2018 ; Vol. 20.

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title = "Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers",

abstract = "Although several laser–plasma-based methods have been proposed for generating energetic electrons, positrons and γ-photons, manipulation of their microstructures is still challenging, and their angular momentum control has not yet been achieved. Here, we present and numerically demonstrate an all-optical scheme to generate bright GeV γ-photon and positron beams with controllable angular momentum by use of two counter-propagating circularly-polarized lasers in a near-critical-density plasma. The plasma acts as a 'switching medium', where the trapped electrons first obtain angular momentum from the drive laser pulse and then transfer it to the γ-photons via nonlinear Compton scattering. Further through the multiphoton Breit–Wheeler process, dense energetic positron beams are efficiently generated, whose angular momentum can be well controlled by laser–plasma interactions. This opens up a promising and feasible way to produce ultra-bright GeV γ-photons and positron beams with desirable angular momentum for a wide range of scientific research and applications.",

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year = "2018",

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Zhu, X-L, Yu, T-P, Chen, M, Weng, S-M & Sheng, Z-M 2018, 'Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers', New Journal of Physics, vol. 20, 083013. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aad71a

Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers. / Zhu, Xing-Long; Yu, Tong-Pu; Chen, Min; Weng, Su-Ming; Sheng, Zheng-Ming.

In: New Journal of Physics, Vol. 20, 083013, 09.08.2018.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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T1 - Generation of GeV positron and γ-photon beams with controllable angular momentum by intense lasers

AU - Zhu, Xing-Long

AU - Yu, Tong-Pu

AU - Chen, Min

AU - Weng, Su-Ming

AU - Sheng, Zheng-Ming

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N2 - Although several laser–plasma-based methods have been proposed for generating energetic electrons, positrons and γ-photons, manipulation of their microstructures is still challenging, and their angular momentum control has not yet been achieved. Here, we present and numerically demonstrate an all-optical scheme to generate bright GeV γ-photon and positron beams with controllable angular momentum by use of two counter-propagating circularly-polarized lasers in a near-critical-density plasma. The plasma acts as a 'switching medium', where the trapped electrons first obtain angular momentum from the drive laser pulse and then transfer it to the γ-photons via nonlinear Compton scattering. Further through the multiphoton Breit–Wheeler process, dense energetic positron beams are efficiently generated, whose angular momentum can be well controlled by laser–plasma interactions. This opens up a promising and feasible way to produce ultra-bright GeV γ-photons and positron beams with desirable angular momentum for a wide range of scientific research and applications.

AB - Although several laser–plasma-based methods have been proposed for generating energetic electrons, positrons and γ-photons, manipulation of their microstructures is still challenging, and their angular momentum control has not yet been achieved. Here, we present and numerically demonstrate an all-optical scheme to generate bright GeV γ-photon and positron beams with controllable angular momentum by use of two counter-propagating circularly-polarized lasers in a near-critical-density plasma. The plasma acts as a 'switching medium', where the trapped electrons first obtain angular momentum from the drive laser pulse and then transfer it to the γ-photons via nonlinear Compton scattering. Further through the multiphoton Breit–Wheeler process, dense energetic positron beams are efficiently generated, whose angular momentum can be well controlled by laser–plasma interactions. This opens up a promising and feasible way to produce ultra-bright GeV γ-photons and positron beams with desirable angular momentum for a wide range of scientific research and applications.

KW - electron–positron plasmas

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KW - angular momentum transfer

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