Energy absorption in the laser-QED regime
Plasma Physics
2019-01-29 v2
Abstract
A theoretical and numerical investigation of non-ponderomotive absorption at laser intensities relevant to quantum electrodynamics is presented. It is predicted that there is a regime change in the dependence of fast electron energy on incident laser energy that coincides with the onset of pair production via the Breit-Wheeler process. This prediction is numerically verified via an extensive campaign of QED-inclusive particle-in-cell simulations. The dramatic nature of the power law shift leads to the conclusion that this process is a candidate for an unambiguous signature that future experiments on multi-petawatt laser facilities have truly entered the QED regime.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1901.08017,
title = {Energy absorption in the laser-QED regime},
author = {Alex F Savin and Aimee J Ross and Ramy Aboushelbaya and Marko W Mayr and Ben Spiers and Robin H-W Wang and Peter A Norreys},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1901.08017},
year = {2019}
}