Probing strong-field QED in beam-plasma collisions
A. Matheron, P. San Miguel Claveria, R. Ariniello, H. Ekerfelt, F. Fiuza, S. Gessner, M. F. Gilljohann, M. J. Hogan, C. H. Keitel, A. Knetsch, M. Litos, Y. Mank… 展开作者
A. Matheron, P. San Miguel Claveria, R. Ariniello, H. Ekerfelt, F. Fiuza, S. Gessner, M. F. Gilljohann, M. J. Hogan, C. H. Keitel, A. Knetsch, M. Litos, Y. Mankovska, S. Montefiori, Z. Nie, B. O'Shea, J. R. Peterson, D. Storey, Y. Wu, X. Xu, V. Zakharova, X. Davoine, L. Gremillet, M. Tamburini, S. Corde
Ongoing progress in laser and accelerator technology opens new possibilities in high-field science, notably to investigate the largely unexplored strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED) regime where electron-positron pairs can be created directly from light-matter or even light-vacuum interactions. Laserless strategies such as beam-beam collisions have also been proposed to access the nonperturbative limit of SFQED. Here we report on a concept to probe SFQED by harnessing the interaction between a high-charge, ultrarelativistic electron beam and a solid conducting target. When impinging onto the target surface, the beam self fields are reflected, partly or fully, depending on the beam shape; in the rest frame of the beam electrons, these fields can exceed the Schwinger field, thus triggering SFQED effects such as quantum nonlinear inverse Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit-Wheeler electron-positron pair creation. Through reduced modeling and kinetic numerical simulations, we show that this single-beam setup can achieve interaction conditions similar to those envisioned in beam-beam collisions, but in a simpler and more controllable way owing to the automatic overlap of the beam and driving fields. This scheme thus eases the way to precision studies of SFQED and is also a promising milestone towards laserless studies of nonperturbative SFQED.
We propose a scheme to explore regimes of strong-field Quantum Electrodynamics (SF-QED) otherwise unattainable with the currently available laser technology. The scheme relies on relativistic plasma mirrors curved by radiation pressure to boost the intensity of PetaWatt-class laser pulses by Doppler effect and focus them to extreme field intensities. We show that very clear SF-QED signatures could be observed by placing a secondary target where the boosted beam is focused.
QED cascades play an important role in extreme astrophysical environments like magnetars. They can also be produced by passing a relativistic electron beam through an intense laser field. Signatures of collective pair plasma effects in these QED cascades are shown to appear, in exquisite detail, through plasma-induced frequency upshifts in the laser spectrum. Remarkably, these signatures can be detected even in small plasma volumes moving at relativistic speeds. Strong-field quantum and collective pair plasma effects can thus be explored with existing technology, provided that ultra-dense elec…
Plasma modes in QED super-strong magnetic fields of magnetars and laser plasmas
Institute for Advanced Study, School for Natural Sciences, Princeton（普林斯顿高等研究院自然科学学院）；Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University（普林斯顿大学天体物理科学系）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas（堪萨斯大学物理与天文系）；Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院核科学实验室）
In this work, a many body relativistic quantum field theory for the collective modes of spinor quantum electrodynamic theory (QED) plasmas is developed. We introduce the thermo field dynamics into the QED plasma study. The nontrivial background field method is used to take account of the non-perturbativity of background charged plasma particles and radiation field. It is an extension of "Furry picture" which is first introduced by Yuan Shi, et al. [Phys. Rev. A 94, 012124 (2016)] in their scalar QED plasma study. However, their wave function method in evaluating the background field of ideal s…
Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)（中国科学院上海光学精密机械研究所）；Institute for Applied Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院应用物理研究所）
The emission of multi-MeV ($γ$-ray) photons from the interaction of a high-powered laser pulse with a dense plasma target is studied using particle-in-cell simulations. A new set of diagnostic techniques is presented and applied to analyze the intense field and ultra-relativistic electrons. Such methods elucidate the dominant processes responsible for efficient laser-to-$γ$ energy conversion, which include nonlinear Compton scattering and magneto-bremsstrahlung radiation, and provide a clear picture of the interaction on a microscopic level. We identify regions in the plasma target of high pho…
For simulating laser-plasma interactions, we developed a parallel, multi-dimensional, fully relativistically particle-in-cell (PIC) code, named YUNIC. The core algorithm is introduced, including field solver, particle pusher, field interpolation, and current interpolation. In addition to the classical electromagnetic interaction in plasmas, nonlinear Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production are also implemented based on Monte-Carlo methods to study quantum electrodynamics (QED) processes. We benchmark YUNIC against theories and other PIC codes through several typical case…
In strong electromagnetic fields, unique plasma phenomena and applications emerge, whose description requires recently developed theories and simulations [Y. Shi, Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University (2018)]. In the classical regime, to quantify effects of strong magnetic fields on three-wave interactions, a convenient formula is derived by solving the fluid model to the second order in general geometry. As an application, magnetic resonances are exploited to mediate laser pulse compression, using which higher intensity pulses can be produced in wider frequency ranges, as confirmed by particle-i…
Laser-driven plasma pinching in $e^{-}e^{+}$ cascade
采用三维粒子模拟方法，考虑量子电动力学（QED）的相关过程，研究了极端强度最终聚焦激光场中正负电子等离子体的级联产生及其动力学过程.我们表明，如果激光装置提供的总功率超过20 PW，它是可能的，不仅触发量子电动力学级联，但在产生的电子-正电子等离子体箍缩。在这种情况下，等离子体自压缩导致峰值密度和磁（电）场的突然上升，分别达到至少$10^{28}$ cm $^{-3}$和Schwinger场的1/20（1/40）。确定这个过程的实际极限和物理性质可能需要超越标准半经典方法的量子处理。因此，拟议的设置可以为探测和探索物质和真空的基础物理提供极端条件。
