Energy absorption in the laser-QED regime

A theoretical and numerical investigation of non-ponderomotive absorption at laser intensities relevant to quantum electrodynamics is presented. It is predicted that there is a regime change in the dependence of fast electron energy on incident laser energy that coincides with the onset of pair prod...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-06, Vol.9 (1), p.8956-8, Article 8956
Main Authors: Savin, Alex F., Ross, Aimee J., Aboushelbaya, Ramy, Mayr, Marko W., Spiers, Ben, Wang, Robin H.-W., Norreys, Peter A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/766/1960
639/766/1960/1135
Absorption
Energy
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lasers
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:A theoretical and numerical investigation of non-ponderomotive absorption at laser intensities relevant to quantum electrodynamics is presented. It is predicted that there is a regime change in the dependence of fast electron energy on incident laser energy that coincides with the onset of pair production via the Breit-Wheeler process. This prediction is numerically verified via an extensive campaign of QED-inclusive particle-in-cell simulations. The dramatic nature of the power law shift leads to the conclusion that this process is a candidate for an unambiguous signature that future experiments on multi-petawatt laser facilities have truly entered the QED regime.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-45536-x