Related papers: Bright polarised x-ray flashes from dense plasmas
Magnetars in quiescent states continue to emit hard X-rays with a power far exceeding the loss of rotational energy. It has recently been noted that this hard X-ray continuum may bear a direct signature of quantum electrodynamic (QED)…
Advances of high intensity lasers have opened up the field of strong field physics and led to a broad range of technological applications. Recent x ray laser sources and optics development makes it possible to obtain extremely high…
We report the observation of longitudinal filamentation of an electron-positron pair plasma in a beam-driven QED cascade. The filaments are created in the "pair-reflection" regime, where the generated pairs are partially stopped and…
We present first results from a novel experimental platform which is able to access physics relevant to topics including indirect-drive magnetised ICF; laser energy deposition; various topics in atomic physics; and laboratory astrophysics…
We consider injection and subsequent acceleration of electrons in narrow plasma channels irradiated by linearly and radially polarized ultraintense laser pulses. Using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we show that radially…
The cascaded production and dynamics of electron-positron plasma in ultimately focused laser fields of extreme intensity are studied by 3D particle-in-cell simulations with the account for the relevant processes of quantum electrodynamics…
The onset and development of electron-positron cascade in a standing wave formed by multiple colliding laser pulses requires tight focusing in order to achieve the maximum laser intensity. There, steep spatio-temporal gradients in the laser…
Micro and nano structures scatter light and amplify local electric fields very effectively. Energy incident as intense ultrashort laser pulses can be converted to x-rays and hot electrons more efficiently with a substrate that suitably…
Relativistic, polarized pair-photon fireballs are central to understand the microscopic energy transfer of high-energy astrophysical outflows, yet generating an overdense fireball in the laboratory, especially via an ultraintense laser,…
A method for the generation of ultrarelativistic electron beams with high spin polarization is put forward, where a tightly-focused linearly-polarized ultraintense laser pulse interacts with a nonprepolarized transverse-size-tailored solid…
Ultrafast extreme ultraviolet (XUV) sources with a controllable polarization state are powerful tools for investigating the structural and electronic as well as the magnetic properties of materials. However, such light sources are still…
Absorption covers the physical processes which convert intense photon flux into energetic particles when a high-power laser illuminates optically-thick matter. It underpins important petawatt-scale applications today, e.g., medical-quality…
Reaching light intensities above $10^{25}$ W/cm$^{2}$ and up to the Schwinger limit ($10^{29}$ W/cm$^{2}$) would enable testing decades-old fundamental predictions of Quantum Electrodynamics. A promising yet challenging approach to achieve…
The plasma photocathode has previously been proposed as a source of ultra-high-brightness electron bunches within plasma accelerators. Here, the scheme is extended by using a radially-polarized ionizing laser pulse to generate high-charge,…
The emission of multi-MeV ($\gamma$-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…
QED cascades are complex avalanche processes of hard photon emission and electron-positron pair creation driven by ultra-strong electromagnetic fields. They play a fundamental role in astrophysical environments such as a pulsars'…
The probability of photon emission of a charged particle traversing a strong field becomes modified if vacuum polarization is considered. This feature is important for fundamental quantum electrodynamics processes present in extreme…
It is shown by three-dimensional QED particle-in-cell simulation that as a laser pulse of 2.5 PW and 20 fs propagates along a sub-wavelength-wide solid wire, directional synchrotron $\gamma-$rays along the wire surface can be efficiently…
In the atmospheric plasma of a strongly magnetized neutron star, vacuum polarization can induce a Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein like resonance across which a X-ray photon may (depending on its energy) convert from one mode into the other,…
The interaction of two laser pulses in an underdense plasma has proven to be able to inject electrons in plasma waves, thus providing a stable and tunable source of electrons. Whereas previous works focused on the "beatwave" injection…