Retrieving transient magnetic fields of ultrarelativistic laser plasma via ejected electron polarization

Abstract

Interaction of an ultrastrong short laser pulse with non-prepolarized near-critical density plasma is investigated in an ultrarelativistic regime, with an emphasis on the radiative spin polarization of ejected electrons. Our particle-in-cell simulations show explicit correlations between the angle resolved electron polarization and the structure and properties of the transient quasistatic plasma magnetic field. While the magnitude of the spin signal is the indicator of the magnetic field strength created by the longitudinal electron current, the asymmetry of electron polarization is found to gauge the island-like magnetic distribution which emerges due to the transverse current induced by the laser wave front. Our studies demonstrate that the spin degree of freedom of ejected electrons could potentially serve as an efficient tool to retrieve the features of strong plasma fields.

5 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Nonlinear collective effects in photon-photon and photon-plasma interactions
• Prolific pair production with high-power lasers
• QED cascades induced by circularly polarized laser fields
• Ultrarelativistic electron beam polarization in single-shot interaction with an ultraintense laser pulse
• Magnetic field amplification by the Weibel instability at planetary and astrophysical high-Mach-number shocks
• Time-resolved fast turbulent dynamo in a laser plasma
• Measurements of the growth and saturation of electron Weibel instability in optical-field ionized plasmas

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Electron polarization in ultrarelativistic plasma current filamentation instabilities
• Simulations of laser-driven strong-field QED with Ptarmigan: Resolving wavelength-scale interference and $\gamma$-ray polarization
• Helicity transfer in strong laser fields via the electron anomalous magnetic moment
• Spin-polarized electron beam generation in the colliding-pulse injection scheme
• Acceleration of spin-polarized proton beams via two parallel laser pulses
• Laser-driven lepton polarization in the quantum radiation-dominated reflection regime
• Deciphering in situ electron dynamics of ultrarelativistic plasma via polarization pattern of emitted gamma photons
• High-order corrections to the radiation-free dynamics of an electron in the strongly radiation-dominated regime
• Polarized QED Cascades over Pulsar Polar Caps
• Plasma acceleration of polarized particle beams
• Production of multi-oriented polarization for relativistic electron beams via a mutable filter for nonlinear Compton scattering
• The effect of the electron's spin magnetic moment on quantum radiation in strong electromagnetic fields
• Intrinsic Nonlocality of Spin- and Polarization-Resolved Probabilities in Strong-Field Quantum Electrodynamics
• Electron penetration heating in turbulent magnetic loops driven by nonrelativistic laser-plasma interaction