Highly efficient laser-driven Compton gamma-ray source

Abstract

The recent advancement of high-intensity lasers has made all-optical Compton scattering become a promising way to produce ultra-short brilliant $\gamma$-rays in an ultra-compact system. However, so far achieved Compton $\gamma$-ray sources are severely limited by low conversion efficiency (lower than $10^{-5}$) and spectral intensity ($\sim 10^4$ $photons/0.1\%BW$). Here we present a highly efficient gamma photon emitter obtained by irradiating a high-intensity laser pulse on a miniature plasma device consisting of a plasma lens and a plasma mirror. This concept exploits strong spatiotemporal laser-shaping process and high-charge electron acceleration process in the plasma lens, as well as an efficient nonlinear Compton scattering process enabled by the plasma mirror. Our particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that in this novel scheme, brilliant $\gamma$-rays with very high conversion efficiency (higher than $10^{-2}$) and spectral intensity ($\sim 10^9$ $photons/0.1\%BW$) can be achieved by employing currently available petawatt-class lasers with intensity of $10^{21}$ $W/c{\mathrm{m}}^2$. Such efficient and intense $\gamma$-ray sources would find applications in wide-ranging areas.

19 pages, 8 figures