We detail a method to produce a GeV-photon source with polarisation purity exceeding $96\%$ and $89\%$ for linear and circular polarisation respectively and with a brilliance of the order of $10^{21}\,\textrm{photons}/(\textrm{s}~\textrm{mm}^2~\textrm{mrad}^2~0.1\%~\textrm{BW})$. Using currently available multi-GeV electron bunches and laser pulses of moderately relativistic intensities, we show how the weakly nonlinear regime can produce photons polarised mainly parallel to the laser field. We demonstrate the robustness of this scheme by considering electron bunches of various emissivities colliding with linearly and circularly-polarised laser pulses at a range of angles.
We present the results of a detailed study of the large transverse momentum Drell-Yan process, pp --> (Gamma^*, Z^*)X --> l^+l^- X at collider energies, with either one or both protons polarised, allowing the study of single- and double-spin asymmetries respectively. We show how these asymmetries obtained from angular distributions of the leptons in the Gamma^* (or Z^*) rest-frame, can be used to get information on the polarised parton distributions. Numerical results for the asymmetries and the cross-sections are presented, and the sensitivity of the asymmetries to the initial parton distribu…
We study the effects of a possible strong final state interaction among longitudinal W's in gamma.gamma --> W+W-. The relevant partial wave amplitudes are modified by an Omnès function approximated by a Breit-Wigner form factor. We study the fractional cross section f_{00} = σ_{LL}/σ_{Total} with both W's longitudinally polarised, in the presence of a J = 2 resonance (M = 2.5 TeV, Width = 500 GeV) or a J = 0 resonance (M = 1 TeV, Width = 1 TeV), whose parameters are scaled up from the f_2 and σresonances in the ππsystem. We also examine the effects of final state interaction in the case of pol…
Conventional indirect dark matter (DM) searches look for an excess in the electromagnetic emission from the sky that cannot be attributed to known astrophysical sources, but its polarisation has not been explored to date. In this proceeding, we argue that photon polarisation is an important feature to understand new physics interactions. In particular, circular polarisation can be generated from Beyond the Standard Model interactions if they violate parity and there is an asymmetry in the number density of the initial state particles which participate in the interaction. We consider a simplifi…
Prolific electron-positron pair production is possible at laser intensities approaching 10^{24} W/cm^2 at a wavelength of 1 micron. An analysis of electron trajectories and interactions at the nodes (B=0) of two counter-propagating, circularly polarised laser beams shows that a cascade of gamma-rays and pairs develops. The geometry is generalised qualitatively to linear polarisation and laser beams incident on a solid target.
In the present work a closed system of kinetic equations is obtained for the description of the vacuum creation of an electron - positron plasma and secondary photons due to a strong laser field. An estimate for the photon energy distribution is obtained. In the Markovian approximation the photon distribution has a 1/k spectrum (flicker noise).
The importance of contributions due to the longitudinally polarised virtual photon and the longitudinal-transverse interference term, in the unpolarised ep collisions is discussed. The numerical calculations for the Compton process, e p --> e gamma X, at the HERA collider were performed in the Born approximation. The various distributions in the ep centre-of-mass and Breit frames are presented. These cross sections are dominated by the transversely polarised intermediate photon, even for large values of its virtuality.
In this review we consider three important applications of lasers in high energy physics: gamma gamma, gamma electron colliders, laser cooling, positron production. These topics are actual now due to plans of construction linear e+e-, e-e-, gamma-gamma, gamma-e colliders with energies 0.3--1 TeV. High energy photons for gamma-gamma, gamma-e collisions can be obtained using laser backscattering. These types of collisions considerably increase physics potential of linear colliders. Very low emittance of electron beams required for achieving ultimate gamma-gamma luminosity can be obtained using a…
In the present work a closed system of kinetic equations is obtained from the truncation of the BBGKY hierarchy for the description of the vacuum creation of an electron - positron plasma and secondary photons due to a strong laser field. This truncation is performed in the Markovian approximation for the one-photon annihilation channel which is accessible due to the presence of the strong external field. Estimates of the photon production rate are obtained for different domains of laser field parameters (frequency nu and field strength E). A huge quantity of optical photons of the quasiclassi…
The influence of the strong laser-driven vacuum on a propagating electromagnetic probe wave has been studied in detail. We investigate two scenarios comprising a focused probe laser beam passing through a region of vacuum polarised by an ultra-intense laser field. By splitting this strong field into two, separated, monochromatic Gaussian pulses counter-propagating in a plane perpendicular to the probe field axis, we demonstrate a leading order light-by-light diffraction effect that generates an interference pattern reminiscent of the classic double-slit experiment. We calculate the total numbe…
Conventional indirect dark matter (DM) searches look for an excess in the electromagnetic emission from the sky that cannot be attributed to known astrophysical sources. Here, we argue that the photon polarisation is an important feature to understand new physics interactions and can be exploited to improve our sensitivity to DM. In particular, circular polarisation can be generated from Beyond the Standard Model interactions if they violate parity and there is an asymmetry in the number of particles which participate in the interaction. In this work, we consider a simplified model for fermion…
This report on Photon Colliders briefly reviews three main issues: physics motivation, possible parameters and technical feasibility, plans of works and international cooperation. New scheme of laser optics at the interaction region is described which can drastically (at least by one order) reduce the cost of the laser system.
A high energy photon collider (gamma-gamma, gamma-electron) based on backward Compton scattering of laser light is a very natural supplement to e+e- a linear collider and can significantly enrich the physics program. The region below about one 0.5-1 TeV is very convenient from a technical point of view: wave length of the laser should be about 1 micron, i.e. in the region of most powerful solid state lasers, collision effects do not restrict the gamma-gamma luminosity. In the multi-TeV energy region the situation is more complicated: the optimum laser wave length increases in proportionally wi…
Photoproduction of electron-positron pairs by bremsstrahlung gamma-rays propagating through a high-intensity optical laser wave is studied. By calculating total pair production yields as well as energy and angular distributions of the produced particles for a range of laser intensities, we analyze the influence that the broad frequency spectrum of bremsstrahlung exerts on the properties of the process in the transition region between the perturbative and non-perturbative interaction regimes. In particular, we demonstrate a continuous shifting of the mainly contributing interval of bremsstrahlu…
The design for the proto type of the Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS) at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) is introduced. Some detailed descriptions for design of related instruments are provided. The proto type can produce X-ray with energy of 10 keV order. A description of the kinematics of Compton backscattering mechanism and the related simulation results are presented and discussed. The backgrounds from dipole magnet and bremsstrahlung are estimated and the signal-noise ratio is also given.
We present a proposal for testing the prediction of non-equilibrium quantum field theory below the Schwinger limit. The proposed experiments should be able to detect a measurable number of gamma rays resulting from the annihilation of pairs in the focal spot of two opposing high intensity laser beams. We discuss the dependence of the expected number of gamma rays with the laser parameters and compare with the estimated background level of gamma hits for realistic laser conditions.
Probing vacuum structures deformed by high intense fields is of great interest in general. In the context of quantum electrodynamics (QED), the vacuum exposed by a linearly polarized high-intensity laser field is expected to show birefringence. We consider the combination of a 10 PW laser system to pump the vacuum and 1 GeV photons to probe the birefringent effect. The vacuum birefringence can be measured via the polarization flip of the probe $γ$-rays which can also be interpreted as phase retardation of probe photons. We provide theoretically how to extract phase retardation of GeV probe pho…
High energy photon colliders (gamma-gamma, gamma-electron) based on backward Compton scattering of laser light is a very natural addition to e+e- linear colliders. In this report we consider this option for the TESLA project. Recent study has shown that the horizontal emittance in the TESLA damping ring can be further decreased by a factor of four. In this case the gamma-gamma luminosity luminosity in the high energy part of spectrum can reach (1/3)L_{e+e-}. Typical cross sections of interesting processes in gamma-gamma collisions are higher than those in e+e- collisions by about one order of …
CP-violating asymmetries due to a possible electric dipole interaction of the top quark in the production and subsequent decay of top quark-top antiquark pair in photon-photon collisions are studied. The asymmetries defined can be used to determine the imaginary part of the electric dipole form factors. A gamma-gamma collider with photon beams generated from laser back-scattering off electron beams with an integrated geometric luminosity of 20 fb^{-1} can put a limit of the order of 10^{-17} e cm on the imaginary part of the electric dipole form factor of the top quark if the electron beams ha…
Using the laser backscattering method at future TeV linear colliders one can obtain gamma-gamma and electron-gamma colliding beams (photon colliders) with the energy and luminosity comparable to that in e+e- collisions. Now this option is included to conceptual designs of linear colliders. This paper (talk at the conference on nonlinear optics) is a short introduction to this field with an emphasis on required lasers which can be used both for e -> gamma conversion and for preparation of electron beams (photoguns, laser cooling), some interesting nonlinear QED effects in a strong field which a…
It is well known that in the presence of strong external electromagnetic fields many processes forbidden in standard QED become possible. One example is the one-photon annihilation process considered recently by the present authors in the framework of a kinetic approach to the quasiparticle e-e+ gamma plasma created from vacuum in the focal spot of two counter-propagating laser beams. In these works the domain of large values of the adiabaticity parameter gamma >> 1 (corresponding to multiphoton processes) was considered. In the present work we estimate the intensity of the radiation stemming …
Gamma-ray and electron-positron pair production will figure prominently in laser-plasma experiments with next generation lasers. Using a Monte Carlo approach we show that straggling effects arising from the finite recoil an electron experiences when it emits a high energy photon, increase the number of pairs produced on further interaction with the laser fields.
We consider vacuum polarization effects in the one-photon annihilation channel within a kinetic description of the e+ e- plasma produced from the vacuum in the focal spot of counter-propagating laser beams. This entails essential changes in the structure of the photon kinetic equation. We investigate the domain of large adiabaticity parameters gamma >> 1 where the photon radiation turns out to be very small. A more thorough examination of the domain gamma < 1 needs separate investigation. However, an exploratory study has shown that the one-photon annihilation channel can lead for some domains…
The polarisation of sunlight after scattering off the atmosphere was first described by Chandrasekhar using a geometrical description of Rayleigh interactions. Kosowsky later extended Chandrasekhar's formalism by using Quantum Field Theory (QFT) to describe the polarisation of the Cosmological Microwave Background radiation. Here we focus on a case that is rarely discussed in the literature, namely the polarisation of high energy radiation after scattering off particles. After demonstrating why the geometrical and low energy QFT approaches fail in this case, we establish the transport formalis…
We propose and demonstrate that a gamma-gamma collider with W_gg < 12 GeV can be added to the European XFEL with a minimal disruption to its main program. High-energy photons will be obtained by Compton scattering of 0.5 micron laser photons on the existing 17.5 GeV electron beams. Such a gamma-gamma collider would be an excellent place for the development and application of modern technologies: powerful lasers, optical cavities, superconducting linacs, and low-emittance electron sources -- as well as training the next generation of accelerator physicists and engineers. The physics program wou…
Methods of gamma-gamma, gamma-electron luminosities measurement at photon colliders based on Compton scattering of laser photons on high energy electrons at linear colliders are considered.
