• Corpus ID: 118905934

A channel for very high density matter-antimatter pair-jet production by intense laser-pulses

@article{Sorbo2019ACF,
  title={A channel for very high density matter-antimatter pair-jet production by intense laser-pulses},
  author={Dario Del Sorbo and Luca Antonelli and P. J. Davies and L. N. K. Dohl and C. D. Murphy and Nigel C. Woolsey and Frederico Fiuza and H. Chen and Christopher P. Ridgers},
  journal={arXiv: Plasma Physics},
  year={2019}
}

• D. Sorbo, L. Antonelli, +6 authors C. Ridgers
• Published 4 February 2019
• Physics
• arXiv: Plasma Physics

The mechanism of laser-driven relativistic pair-jet production qualitatively changes as laser intensity exceeds $I\gtrsim5\times10^{22}$ W/cm$^{2}$ because of the appearance of laser-induced strong-field QED processes. Here, we show that by exceeding this intensity additional physics operates and opens a new and efficient channel to convert laser photons into dense pair-jets -- the combination of nonlinear Compton scattering and the Bethe-Heitler process. This channel generates relativistic electron-positron jets more than three orders of magnitude denser than has so far been possible. We find that the process is so efficient that it leads to the prolific production of heavier pairs as well. The jets produced by this new channel will enable the study of collective processes in relativistic electron-positron plasmas.