- Main
Laser-Particle Collider for Multi-GeV Photon Production.
- Author(s): Magnusson, J
- Gonoskov, A
- Marklund, M
- Esirkepov, T Zh
- Koga, JK
- Kondo, K
- Kando, M
- Bulanov, SV
- Korn, G
- Bulanov, SS
- et al.
Published Web Location
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.254801Abstract
As an alternative to Compton backscattering and bremsstrahlung, the process of colliding high-energy electron beams with strong laser fields can more efficiently provide both a cleaner and brighter source of photons in the multi-GeV range for fundamental studies in nuclear and quark-gluon physics. In order to favor the emission of high-energy quanta and minimize their decay into electron-positron pairs, the fields must not only be sufficiently strong, but also well localized. We here examine these aspects and develop the concept of a laser-particle collider tailored for high-energy photon generation. We show that the use of multiple colliding laser pulses with 0.4 PW of total power is capable of converting more than 18% of multi-GeV electrons passing through the high-field region into photons, each of which carries more than half of the electron initial energy.