Abstract
Showers of ? rays and positrons are produced when a high-energy electron beam collides with a superintense laser pulse. We present scaling laws for the electron-beam energy loss, the ?-ray spectrum, and the positron yield and energy that are valid in the nonlinear, radiation-reaction-dominated regime. As an application we demonstrate that by employing the collision of a >GeV electron beam with a laser pulse of intensity >5×1021Wcm-2, today's high-intensity laser facilities are capable of producing O(104) positrons per shot via light-by-light scattering.
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevA.96.022128
Publication Date
2017-08-24
Publication Title
Physical Review A
Volume
96
Issue
2
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
ISSN
2469-9934
Embargo Period
2024-11-22
Recommended Citation
Blackburn, T., Ilderton, A., Murphy, C., & Marklund, M. (2017) 'Scaling laws for positron production in laser–electron-beam collisions', Physical Review A, 96(2). American Physical Society (APS): Available at: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.96.022128
