Brilliant petawatt gamma-ray pulse generation in quantum electrodynamic laser-plasma interaction

Area of Science:

• Plasma Physics
• High-Intensity Laser Science
• Quantum Electrodynamics

Background:

• Circularly-polarized (CP) lasers interacting with plasma are crucial for advanced particle acceleration.
• Understanding electron dynamics and radiation emission in extreme laser fields is key to developing new light sources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a new resonance acceleration scheme for generating ultradense relativistic electron bunches.
• To investigate the emission of brilliant vortical gamma-ray (γ-ray) pulses in the quantum electrodynamic (QED) regime.

Main Methods:

• Utilized three-dimensional Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations.
• Investigated the combined effects of radiation reaction recoil force and self-generated magnetic fields.
• Analyzed electron trapping and resonance bandwidth broadening in laser-produced plasma channels.

Main Results:

• Achieved formation of ultradense electron bunches via resonant helical motion in CP laser fields.
• Observed emission of brilliant γ-ray pulses with 6.7 PW power and 10^25 photons/s/mm^2/mrad^2/0.1% BW peak brightness.
• Demonstrated this at a laser intensity of 1.9 × 10^23 W/cm^2.

Conclusions:

• The novel resonance acceleration scheme effectively generates ultradense relativistic electron bunches.
• This method leads to unprecedented brilliant vortical γ-ray pulse emission in CP laser-plasma interactions.
• The findings pave the way for novel high-brightness γ-ray sources.