The laser interaction with an electron-positron-ion mixed plasma is studied, from the perspective of the associated high-order harmonic generation. For an idealized mixed plasma which is assumed with a sharp plasma-vacuum interface and uniform density distribution, when it is irradiated by a weakly relativistic laser pulse, well-defined signals at harmonics of the plasma frequency in the harmonic spectrum are observed. These characteristic signals are attributed to the inverse two-plasmon decay of the counterpropagating monochromatic plasma waves which are excited by the energetic electrons and the positron beam accelerated by the laser. Particle-in-cell simulations show the signal at twice the plasma frequency can be observed for a pair density as low as $\sim 10^{-5}$ of the plasma density. In the self-consistent scenario of pair production by an ultraintense laser striking a solid target, particle-in-cell simulations, which account for quantum electrodynamic effects (photon emission and pair production), show that dense (greater than the relativistically-corrected critical density) and hot pair plasmas can be created. The harmonic spectrum shows weak low order harmonics, indicating a high laser absorption due to quantum electrodynamic effects. The characteristic signals at harmonics of the plasma frequency are absent, because broadband plasma waves are excited due to the high plasma inhomogeneity introduced by the interaction. However, the high frequency harmonics are enhanced due to the high-frequency modulations from the direct laser coupling with created pair plasmas.
An all-optical centimeter-scale laser-plasma positron accelerator is modeled to produce quasi-monoenergetic beams with tunable ultra-relativistic energies. A new principle elucidated here describes the trapping of divergent positrons that are part of a laser-driven electromagnetic shower with a large energy spread and their acceleration into a quasi-monoenergetic positron beam in a laser-driven plasma wave. Proof of this principle using analysis and Particle-In-Cell simulations demonstrates that, under limits defined here, existing lasers can accelerate hundreds of MeV pC quasi-monoenergetic p…
We study the initial properties and positron annihilation within a small electron-positron plasma drop formed by intense laser pulse. Such QED cascade initiated plasma is, in general, far below the chemical (particle yield) equilibrium. We find that the available electrons and positrons equilibrate kinetically, yet despite relatively high particle density, the electron-positron annihilation is very slow, suggesting a rather long lifespan of the plasma drop.
In this paper, we obtain the dispersion relation for the lower-hybrid oscillations/waves in a cold magnetized electron-positron-ion (e-p-i) plasma. It is found that the frequency of the lower-hybrid oscillations in an e-p-i plasma is approximate $1/\sqrt{3}$ times the frequency of lower-hybrid oscillations in an electron-ion (e-i) plasma, provided the plasma density is high, and the equilibrium densities of the positron and the ion are balanced. The present work may have some relevance for laboratory/astrophysical e-p-i plasmas.
Stimulated Brillouin backscattering of light is shown to be drastically enhanced in electron-positron plasmas, in contrast to the suppression of stimulated Raman scattering. A generalized theory of three-wave coupling between electromagnetic and plasma waves in two-species plasmas with arbitrary mass ratios, confirmed with a comprehensive set of particle-in-cell simulations, reveals violations of commonly-held assumptions about the behavior of electron-positron plasmas. Specifically, in the electron-positron limit three-wave parametric interaction between light and the plasma acoustic wave can…
The existence of soliton-like electromagnetic (EM) distributions in a fully degenerate electron-positron plasma is studied applying relativistic hydrodynamic and Maxwell equations. For circularly polarized wave it is found that the soliton solutions exist both in relativistic as well as nonrelativistic degenerate plasmas. Plasma density in the region of soliton pulse localization is reduced considerably. The possibility of plasma cavitation is also shown.
We consider the separate spin evolution of electrons and positrons in electron-positron and electron-positron-ion plasmas. We consider oblique propagating longitudinal waves in this systems. We report presence of the spin-electron acoustic waves and their dispersion dependencies. In electron-positron plasmas, similarly to the electron-ion plasmas, we find one spin-electron acoustic wave (SEAW) at propagation parallel or perpendicular to the external field and two spin-electron acoustic waves at the oblique propagation. At the parallel or perpendicular propagation of the longitudinal waves in e…
Interchange drive and cross-field transport of density filaments in quasi-neutral inhomogeneously magnetized electron-positron plasmas is shown to be strongly reduced by the presence of minority ions. Two mechanisms are identified for the reduction in radial propagation and plasma transport: effective mass related inertia, and collisionality dependent Boltzmann spin-up of the filaments. Numerical results are obtained with a three-dimensional full-F multi-species gyrofluid model.
The non-linear evolution of spin-electron acoustic, positron-acoustic, and spin-electron-positron acoustic waves is considered. It is demonstrated that weakly nonlinear dynamics of each wave leads to the soliton formation. Altogether, we report on existence of three different solitons. The spin-electron acoustic soliton known for electron-ion plasmas is described for electron-positron-ion plasmas for the first time. The existence of the spin-electron-positron acoustic soliton is reported for the first time. The positron-acoustic soliton and the spin-electron-positron acoustic soliton arise as …
Effects of ion mobility and positron fraction on solitary waves of envelop of laser field and potential of electrostatic field in weak relativistic electron-positron-ion plasma are investigated. The parameter region for the existence of solitary waves is obtained analytically, and the reasonable choice of parameters is clarified. Both cases of mobile and immobile ions are considered. It is found that the amplitudes of solitary waves in the former case are larger compared to the latter case. For small plasma density, the localized solitary wave solutions in terms of approximate perturbation ana…
The expansion dynamics of hot electron-positron-photon plasma droplets is dealt with within relativistic hydrodynamics. Such droplets, envisaged to be created in future experiments by irradiating thin foils with counter-propagating ultra-intense laser beams, are sources of flashes of gamma radiation. Warm electron-positron plasma droplets may be identified and characterized by a broadened 511 keV line.
The gyrokinetic stability of electron-positron plasmas contaminated by ion (proton) admixture is studied in slab geometry. The appropriate dispersion relation is derived and solved. The ion-temperature-gradient driven instability, the electron-temperature-gradient driven instability, the universal mode, and the shear Alfven wave are considered. The contaminated plasma remains stable if the contamination degree is below some threshold, and it is found that the shear Alfven wave can be present in a contaminated plasma in cases where it is absent without ion contamination.
Plasma accelerators sustain extreme field gradients, and potentially enable future compact linear colliders. Although tremendous progress has been achieved in accelerating electron beams in a plasma accelerator, positron acceleration with collider-relevant parameters is challenging. A recently proposed positron acceleration scheme relying on the wake generated by an electron drive beam in a plasma column has been shown to be able to accelerate positron witness beams with low emittance and low energy spread. However, since this scheme relies on cylindrical symmetry, it is possibly prone to tran…
Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation results of sustained acceleration of electron-positron (e+e-) plasmas by comoving electromagnetic (EM) pulses are presented. When a thin slab of overdense e+e- plasma is irradiated with linear-polarized ultra-intense short laser pulses from both sides, the pulses are transmitted when the plasma is compressed to thinner than ~ 2 relativistic skin depths. A fraction of the plasma is then captured and efficiently accelerated by self-induced JxB forces. For 1 micron laser and 1021Wcm-2 intensity, the maximum energy exceeds GeV in a picosecond.
Creation of angular momentum in a relativistic electron-positron plasma is explored. It is shown that a chain of angular momentum carrying vortices is a robust asymptotic state sustained by the generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equation characteristic to the system. The results may suggest a possible electromagnetic origin of angular momenta when it is applied to the MeV epoch of the early Universe.
Propagation of large amplitude ion-acoustic solitary waves (IASWs) in a fully relativistic plasma consisting of cold ions and ultrarelativistic hot electrons and positrons is investigated using the Sagdeev's pseudopotential method in a relativistic hydrodynamics model. Effects of streaming speed of plasma fluid, thermal energy, positron density and positron temperature on large amplitude IASWs are studied by analysis of the pseudopotential structure. It is found that in regions that the streaming speed of plasma fluid is larger than that of solitary wave, by increasing the streaming speed of p…
By means of hollow plasma, multiple proton bunches work well in driving nonlinear plasma wakefields and accelerate electrons to energy frontier with preserved beam quality. However, the acceleration of positrons is different because the accelerating structure is strongly charge dependent. There is a discrepancy between keeping a small normalized emittance and a small energy spread. This results from the conflict that the plasma electrons used to provide focusing to the multiple proton bunches dilute the positron bunch. By loading an extra electron bunch to repel the plasma electrons and meanwh…
Ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasmas can be produced in high-intensity laser fields and play a role in various astrophysical situations. Their properties can be calculated using QED at finite temperature. Here we will use perturbative QED at finite temperature for calculating various important properties, such as the equation of state, dispersion relations of collective plasma modes of photons and electrons, Debye screening, damping rates, mean free paths, collision times, transport coefficients, and particle production rates, of ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasmas. In particula…
Plasma-based accelerators sustain accelerating gradients which are several orders greater than obtained in conventional accelerators. Focusing of electron and positron beams by wakefield, excited in plasma, in electron-positron collider is very important. The focusing mechanism in the plasma, in which all electron bunches of a sequence are focused identically, has been proposed by authors earlier. The mechanism of focusing of a sequence of relativistic positron bunches in plasma, in which all positron bunches of sequence are focused identically and uniformly, has been investigated in this pape…
The main purpose of this work is the investigation of the influence of electron-positron-ion on the electrostatic wakefields that are driven by intense, short electromagnetic wave packets in a three component unmagnetized plasma. The equations that describes the driven electrostatic wakefield are given in the form of system of nonlinear differential equations. The solution of that system was carried out numerically and the results are displayed graphically.
Nonlinear set of equations for inertial or slow shear Alfven wave (SSAW) in ideal electron-positron-ion (e-p-i) plasmas are presented. The analytical solution for arbitrary amplitude SSAW in such multi-component plasmas is obtained using Sagdeev potential approach. The numerical solutions for several different cases have also been presented for illustrative purpose. It is found that the electron density dips of SSAW are formed in the super Alfvenic region. The amplitude and the width of the nonlinear shear Alfven wave reduces with the increase in the concentration of positrons in electron-ion …
Ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasmas can be produced in high-intensity laser fields and play a role in various astrophysical situations. Their properties can be calculated using QED at finite temperature. Here we will use perturbative QED at finite temperature for calculating various important properties, such as the equation of state, dispersion relations of collective plasma modes of photons and electrons, Debye screening, damping rates, mean free paths, collision times, transport coefficients, and particle production rates, of ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasmas. In particula…
Hollow plasma channels are attractive for lepton acceleration because they provide intrinsic emittance preservation regimes. However, beam breakup instabilities dominate the dynamics. Here, we show that thin, warm hollow channels can sustain large-amplitude plasma waves ready for high-quality positron acceleration. We verify that the combination of warm electrons and thin hollow channel enables positron focusing structures. Such focusing wakefields unlock beam breakup damping mechanisms. We demonstrate that such channels emerge self-consistently during the long-term plasma dynamics in the blow…
We derive a nonlinear equation governing dynamics of short-wavelength longitudinal waves in ultrarelativistic electron-positron-ion plasmas. In contrast to the recent work by Lashkin [Phys. Plasmas {\textbf{27}}, 102302 (2020)], where a similar equation was suggested in the framework of the Wigner function approach for a nonrelativistic electron-ion degenerate plasma, in our case which is based on the Vlasov kinetic equation all three species of particles (electrons, positrons and ions) should be present. The nonlinearity arises only in the presence of a population of ions. By numerical simula…
We report on the laser-driven generation of purely neutral, relativistic electron-positron pair plasmas. The overall charge neutrality, high average Lorentz factor ($γ_{e/p} \approx 15$), small divergence ($θ_{e/p} \approx 10 - 20$ mrad), and high density ($n_{e/p}\simeq 10^{15}$cm$^{-3}$) of these plasmas open the pathway for the experimental study of the dynamics of this exotic state of matter, in regimes that are of relevance to electron-positron astrophysical plasmas.
Using the extended Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo (PLK) reductive perturbation method to study the small-amplitude ion acoustic solitary wave (IASW) dynamics (propagation and interaction), it is shown that in Thomas-Fermi magneto-plasma consisting of inertial-less degenerate electrons and positrons and isothermal ions, distinctive features emerge when the ultra-relativistic degeneracy pressure applies to electrons and positrons. Calculations show that ion-acoustic solitary waves may interact differently in such plasmas under ultra-relativistic degeneracy pressure.
Ultra-intense lasers are expected to produce, in near future, relativistic electron-positron plasma droplets. Considering the local photon production rate in complete leading order in quantum electrodynamics (QED), we point out that these droplets are interesting sources of gamma ray flashes
We propose a setup for positron acceleration consisting of an electron driver and a laser pulse creating a two-fold plasma column structure. The resulting wakefield is capable of accelerating positron bunches over long distances even when evolution of the driver is considered. The scheme is studied by means of particle-in-cell simulations. Further, the analytical expression for the accelerating and focusing fields are obtained, showing the equilibrium lines along which the witness bunch is accelerated.
The paper presents the results of numerical PIC-simulation of positron bunch focusing when acceleration in a plasma dielectric wakefield accelerator. The wakefield was excited by drive electron bunch in quartz dielectric tube, embedded in cylindrical metal waveguide. The internal area of dielectric tube has been filled with radially homogeneous plasma having in general case the vacuum channel along waveguide axis. Results of numerical PIC simulation have shown that it is possible a simultaneous acceleration and focusing of test positron bunch in the wakefield. The dependence of transport and a…
A kinetic equation describing the nonlinear evolution of intense electromagnetic pulses in electron-positron (e-p) plasmas is presented. The modulational instability is analyzed for a relativistically intense partially coherent pulse, and it is found that the modulational instability is inhibited by the spectral pulse broadening. A numerical study for the one-dimensional kinetic photon equation is presented. Computer simulations reveal a Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-like recurrence phenomena for localized broadband pulses. The results should be of importance in understanding the nonlinear propagation of b…
The problem of the expansion of a relativistic plasma generated when a large amount of energy is released in a small volume has been considered by many authors. We use the analytical solution of Bisnovatyi-Kogan and Murzina (1995) for the spherically symmetric relativistic expansion. The light-curves and the spectra from transparency of an electron-positron-photon plasma are obtained. We compare our results with the work of Goodman (1986).
We discuss complete theory of spin-1/2 electron-positron quantum plasmas, when electrons and positrons move with velocities mach smaller than the speed of light. We derive a set of two fluid quantum hydrodynamic equations consisting of the continuity, Euler, spin (magnetic moment) evolution equations for each species. We explicitly include the Coulomb, spin-spin, Darwin and annihilation interactions. The annihilation interaction is the main topic of the paper. We consider contribution of the annihilation interaction in the quantum hydrodynamic equations and in spectrum of waves in magnetized e…
A novel approach for positron injection and acceleration in laser driven plasma wakefield is proposed. A theoretical model is developed and confirmed through PIC simulation. One ring-shaped beam and one co-axially propagating Gaussian beam drive wakefields in a preformed plasma volume filled with both electrons and positrons. The laser's ponderomotive force as well as the charge separation force in the front bucket of the first bubble are utilized to provide the transverse momenta of injected positrons and those positrons can be trapped by the focusing field and then accelerated by the wakefie…
For degenerate astrophysical electron-positron plasmas we have considered dynamics of electromagnetic beams carrying angular momentum. It is found for arbitrary level of degeneracy such a beam having the power exceeding a certain critical value breaks up into many filaments, eventually leading to the formation of stable spatial solitons keeping zero field in the center of the structure.
A general quantum dispersion equation for electron-positron(hole)-ion quantum plasmas is derived and studied for some interesting cases. In an electron-positron degenerate Fermi gas, with or without the Madelung term, a new type of zero sound waves are found. Whereas in an electron-hole plasmas a new longitudinal quantum waves are revealed, which have no analogies in quantum electron-ion plasmas. The excitation of these quantum waves by a low-density monoenergetic straight electron beam is examined. Furthermore, the KdV equation for novel quantum waves is derived and the contribution of the Ma…
Plasma wakefield acceleration in the blowout regime is particularly promising for high-energy acceleration of electron beams because of its potential to simultaneously provide large acceleration gradients and high energy transfer efficiency while maintaining excellent beam quality. However, no equivalent regime for positron acceleration in plasma wakes has been discovered to-date. We show that after a short propagation distance, an asymmetric electron beam drives a stable wakefield in a hollow plasma channel that can be both accelerating and focusing for a positron beam. A high charge positron…
In simulations of a 12.5PW laser (focused intensity I = 4x10^23W/cm^2) striking a solid aluminium target 10% of the laser energy is converted to gamma-rays. A dense electron-positron plasma is generated with a maximum density of 10^26/m^3; seven orders of magnitude denser than pure e-e+ plasmas generated with 1PW lasers. When the laser power is increased to 320PW (I = 10^25W/cm^2) 40% of the laser energy is converted to gamma-ray photons and 10% to electron-positron pairs. In both cases there is strong feedback between the QED emission processes and the plasma physics; the defining feature of …
Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of collisionless jets of electrons and positrons in an ambient electron-proton plasma have revealed an acceleration of positrons at the expense of electron kinetic energy. The dominant instability within the jet was a filamentation instability between electrons, protons and positrons. In this work we show that a filamentation instability, between an initially unmagnetized ambient electron-proton plasma at rest and a beam of pair plasma that moves through it at a non-relativistic speed, indeed results in preferential positron acceleration. Filaments form that …
We present results from the SLAC E-150 experiment on plasma focusing of high energy density electron and, for the first time, positron beams. We also discuss measurements on plasma lens-induced synchrotron radiation, longitudinal dynamics of plasma focusing, and laser- and beam-plasma interactions.
A scheme of wake field generation for positron acceleration using hollow or donut shaped electron driver beams is studied. An annular shaped, electron free region forms around a hollow driver beam creating a favorable region (longitudinal field is accelerating and transverse field is focusing and radially linear) for positron acceleration. Accelerating gradients of the order of 10 GV/m are produced by a hollow electron beam driver with FACET like parameters. The peak accelerating field increases linearly with the total charge in the beam driver while the axial size of the favorable region ($\s…
The possibility of self-trapped propagation of electromagnetic beams in the fully degenerate relativistic electron-positron plasma has been studied applying Fluid-Maxwell model; it is shown that dynamics of such beams can be described by the generalized Nonlinear Schrödinger equation with specific type of saturating nonlinearity. Existence of radially symmetric localized solitary structures is demonstrated. It is found that stable solitary structures exist for the arbitrary level of degeneracy.
In simulations of a 10PW laser striking a solid we demonstrate the possibility of producing a pure electron-positron plasma by the same processes as those thought to operate in high-energy astrophysical environments. A maximum positron density of 10^26/m^3 is achieved, seven orders of magnitude greater than achieved in previous experiments. Additionally, 35% of the laser energy is converted to a burst of gamma-rays of intensity 10^22W/cm^2, potentially the most intense gamma-ray source available in the laboratory. This absorption results in a strong feedback between both pair and gamma-ray pro…
Nonlinear propagation of electrostatic modes in ultrarelativistic dense elelectron-positron gravito-plasma at the polar cap region of pulsar magnetosphere is considered. A nonlinear Schrödinger equation is obtained from the reductive perturbation method which predicts the existence of Langmuir dark solitons. Relevance of the propagating dark solitons to the pulsar radio emission is discussed.
Recently much attention has being attracted to the problem of limitations on the attainable intensity of high power lasers [A.M. Fedotov {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{105}, 080402 (2010)]. The laser energy can be absorbed by electron-positron pair plasma produced from a seed by strong laser field via development of the electromagnetic cascades. The numerical model for self-consistent study of electron-positron pair plasma dynamics is developed. Strong absorption of the laser energy in self-generated overdense electron-positron pair plasma is demonstrated. It is shown that the absorptio…
The nonlinear propagation of a circularly polarized electromagnetic (CPEM) wave in a strongly magnetized electron-positron-ion plasma is investigated. Two coupled equations describing the interaction between a high-frequency CPEM wave and the low-frequency electrostatic wake field are derived. It is found that the generation of the wake fields depends on the presence of the ion species. The wake field generation in turn leads to de-acceleration and frequency down conversion of the electromagnetic pulse.
We propose a plasma-based high-energy lepton accelerator, in which a weakly focusing plasma structure is formed near the beam axis. The structure preserves the emittance of the accelerated beam and produces low radiation losses. Moreover, the structure allows for a considerable decrease of the witness energy spread at the driver depletion stage.
High-energy positrons and bright γ-ray sources are unique both for fundamental research and practical applications. However, GeV electron-positron pair jets and γ-ray flashes are still hardly produced in laboratories. Here we demonstrate that, by irradiating two 10 PW-scale laser pulses onto a near-critical density plasma channel, highly-directional GeV electron-positron pairs and bright γ-ray beams can be efficiently generated. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that GeV positron jets show high density (8*10^21/cm^3), attosecond duration (400 as) and a divergence angle of 14°…
Plasma wakefield acceleration in the nonlinear blowout regime has been shown to provide high acceleration gradients and high energy transfer efficiency while maintaining great beam quality for electron acceleration. In contrast, research on positron acceleration in this regime is still in a preliminary stage. We find that an on-axis electron filament can be self-consistently formed and maintained by loading an intense positron beam at the back of the electron beam driven blowout cavity. Via an analytic model and fully nonlinear simulations, we show this coaxial electron filament not only can f…
Relativistic laser wakefield acceleration is characterized by an unsurpassed accelerating gradient, which is very suitable for electron acceleration over short distances and could be a promising candidate for next-generation compact accelerators. However, using this technique for positron acceleration is still challenging because positively charged particles are naturally defocused in nonlinear wakefields. Here we propose and numerically demonstrate a scheme to accelerate an externally injected positron beam in a nonlinear laser wakefield in a regime where a tail wave is formed behind density …
Symmetric electron-positron plasmas in inhomogeneous magnetic fields are intrinsically subject to interchange instability and transport. Scaling relations for the propagation velocity of density blob perturbations relevant to transport in isothermal magnetically confined electron-positron plasmas are deduced, including damping effects when Debye lengths are large compared to Larmor radii. The relations are verified by nonlinear full-F gyrofluid computations. Results are in favour of sufficient magnetic confinement for planned electron-positron plasma experiments. The model is generalised to ot…
Recently, Yan-Xia Xu, et al. in the article Ref. [Phys. Plasmas \textbf{18}, 052301 (2011)] have studied the effects of various plasma parameters on interaction of two ion-acoustic solitary waves in an unmagnetized three-dimensional electron-positron-ion quantum plasma. They have used the extended reductive perturbation technique, the so-called, extended Poincare'-Lighthill-Kuo (PLK) technique, to deduce from the model governing the quantum hydrodynamics (QHD) differential equations leading to the soliton dynamical properties, namely, Korteweg-de Vries evolution equations (one for each wave) a…
A precise theoretical investigation has been made on dust-acoustic (DA) waves (DAWs) in a four components dusty plasma medium having inertial warm adiabatic dust grains and inertialess $q$-distributed electrons as well as isothermal ions and positrons. The nonlinear and dispersive parameters of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE), which develops by using reductive perturbations technique, have been used to recognize the stable and unstable parametric regions of the DAWs as well as associated DA rogue waves (DARWs) in the unstable parametric regime of the DAWs. The effects of the light po…
Creation of electrons and positrons from light alone is a basic prediction of quantum electrodynamics, but yet to be observed. Here we show that it is possible to create ${>}10^8$ positrons by dual laser irradiation of a structured plasma target, at intensities of $2 \times 10^{22} \mathrm{W}\mathrm{cm}^{-2}$. In contrast to previous work, the pair creation is primarily driven by the linear Breit-Wheeler process ($γγ\to e^+ e^-$), not the nonlinear process assumed to be dominant at high intensity, because of the high density of $γ$ rays emitted inside the target. The favorable scaling with las…
High-energy-density electron-positron pair plasma production and its dynamics in a thin foil illuminated by two counter-propagating laser pulses are investigated through multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We compare the production of electron-positron pairs and gamma-photons via quantum electrodynamics processes in the relativistic transparent and opaque regimes, and find that the target transparency can significantly enhance the electron-positron pair production due to the formation of stable standing wave (SW). An optimum foil density of 200 - 280 n_c (n_c is the laser critical …
