Strong signature of one-loop self-energy in polarization resolved nonlinear Compton scattering

Abstract

The polarization dynamics of electrons including multiple nonlinear Compton scattering during the interaction of a circularly-polarized ultraintense laser pulse with a counterpropagating ultrarelativistic electron beam is investigated. While electron polarization emerges mostly due to spin-flips at photon emissions, there is a non-radiative contribution to the polarization which stems from the one-loop QED radiative corrections to the self-energy, which admits of a simple physical model. We put forward a method to single out the non-radiative contribution to the polarization, employing the reflection regime of the interaction when the radiation reaction is significant. The polarization of electrons that penetrate in the forward direction through a colliding laser is shown to be dominated by the loop effect, while the reflected electrons are mostly polarized by spin-flips at photon emissions. We confirm this effect by quantum Monte Carlo simulations considering the helicity transfer from the laser field to the electrons, taking into account the opposite sign of the polarizations induced by the non-radiative loop effect and radiative spin-flip. Our Monte Carlo simulations show a polarization signal as high as $\gtrsim 10\%$ from the non-radiative effect, amenable for experimental detection with current technology.

References in corpus (11)

• Femtosecond x rays from laser-plasma accelerators
• QED cascades induced by circularly polarized laser fields
• Charged particle motion and radiation in strong electromagnetic fields
• Strong signatures of radiation reaction below the radiation dominated regime
• Ultrarelativistic electron beam polarization in single-shot interaction with an ultraintense laser pulse
• Loops and polarization in strong-field QED
• Electron spin- and photon polarization-resolved probabilities of strong-field QED processes
• Loop spin effects in intense background fields
• First-order strong-field QED processes including the damping of particles states
• Helicity transfer in strong laser fields via the electron anomalous magnetic moment
• Resummation of quantum radiation reaction and induced polarization

Cited by in corpus (4)

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• Two-dimensional simulation of the spin-flip in the Kapitza-Dirac effect
• Intrinsic Nonlocality of Spin- and Polarization-Resolved Probabilities in Strong-Field Quantum Electrodynamics