Abstract
One aim of upcoming high-intensity laser facilities is to provide new high-flux gamma-ray sources. Electromagnetic cascades may serve for this, but are known to limit both field strengths and particle energies, restricting efficient production of photons to sub-GeV energies. Here we show how to create a directed GeV photon source, enabled by a controlled interplay between the cascade and anomalous radiative trapping. Using advanced 3D QED particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and analytic estimates, we show that the concept is feasible for planned peak powers of 10 PW level. A higher peak power of 40 PW can provide $10^9$ photons with GeV energies in a well-collimated 3 fs beam, achieving peak brilliance ${9 \times 10^{24}}$ ph s$^{-1}$mrad$^{-2}$mm$^{-2}$/0.1${\%}$BW. Such a source would be a powerful tool for studying fundamental electromagnetic and nuclear processes.
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevX.7.041003
Publication Date
2017-10-06
Publication Title
Physical Review X
Volume
7
Issue
4
Publisher
American Physical Society
ISSN
2160-3308
Embargo Period
2024-11-22
Additional Links
http://arxiv.org/abs/1610.06404v1
Keywords
physics.plasm-ph, physics.plasm-ph
Recommended Citation
Gonoskov, A., Bashinov, A., Bastrakov, S., Efimenko, E., & et al. (2017) 'Ultrabright GeV photon source via controlled electromagnetic cascades in laser-dipole waves', Physical Review X, 7(4). American Physical Society: Available at: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.7.041003
