Scaling the Yield of Laser-Driven Electron-Positron Jets to Laboratory Astrophysical Applications

Abstract

We report new experimental results obtained on three different laser facilities that show directed laser-driven relativistic electron-positron jets with up to 30 times larger yields than previously obtained and a quadratic (~ E^2) dependence of the positron yield on the laser energy. This favorable scaling stems from a combination of higher energy electrons due to increased laser intensity and the recirculation of MeV electrons in the mm-thick target. Based on this scaling, first principles simulations predict the possibility of using such electron-positron jets, produced at upcoming high-energy laser facilities, to probe the physics of relativistic collisionless shocks in the laboratory.

arXiv comment10 pages, 3 figures. Accepted to be published on Physical Review Letters on April 23, 2015

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Cited by in corpus (35)

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• Perpendicular relativistic shocks in magnetized pair plasma
• Experimental observation of a current-driven instability in a neutral electron-positron beam
• Forward sliding-swing acceleration: electron acceleration by high-intensity lasers in strong plasma magnetic fields
• Efficient ion acceleration and dense electron-positron plasma creation in ultra-high intensity laser-solid interactions
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• Physics of relativistic collisionless shocks: The scattering center frame
• Order of magnitude increase in laser-target coupling at near-relativistic intensities using compound parabolic concentrators
• Laboratory realization of relativistic pair-plasma beams
• Super-ponderomotive electron acceleration in blowout plasma heated by multi-picosecond relativistic intensity laser pulse
• High-Energy Radiation and Pair Production by Coulomb Processes in Particle-In-Cell Simulations
• Corrugation of relativistic magnetized shock waves
• Synchrotron emission from nanowire-array targets irradiated by ultraintense laser pulses
• Confinement of relativistic electrons in a magnetic mirror en route to a magnetized relativistic pair plasma
• A New Injection and Acceleration Scheme of Positrons in the Laser-Plasma Bubble Regime
• Laser-driven lepton polarization in the quantum radiation-dominated reflection regime
• Ultra-short, MeV-scale laser-plasma positron source for positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy
• Injection of Positrons into a Dense Electron Cloud in a Magnetic Dipole Trap
• Dispersion Calibration for the National Ignition Facility Electron Positron Proton Spectrometers for Intense Laser Matter Interactions
• Particle resonances and trapping of direct laser acceleration in a laser-plasma channel
• Non-invasive characterisation of a laser-driven positron beam
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• Generalized slab universal instability and its appearance in pair plasma
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