Photon-polarization-resolved linear Breit–Wheeler pair production in a laser-plasma system
The linear Breit–Wheeler (LBW) process—the production of an electron–positron pair through the collision of two high-energy photons—can emerge as the dominant pair production mechanism in the ultraintense laser-plasma interaction for laser intensities below 10 ^23 W cm ^−2 . Here, we explore the ro...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ade61c |
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| Summary: | The linear Breit–Wheeler (LBW) process—the production of an electron–positron pair through the collision of two high-energy photons—can emerge as the dominant pair production mechanism in the ultraintense laser-plasma interaction for laser intensities below 10 ^23 W cm ^−2 . Here, we explore the role of γ photon polarization in LBW pair production for a 10 PW-class, linearly polarized laser interacting with a solid-density plasma. The motivation for this investigation lies in two main aspects: γ photons emitted via nonlinear Compton scattering are inherently linearly polarized, and the LBW process exhibits a distinct sensitivity to γ photon polarization. By leveraging particle-in-cell simulations that self-consistently incorporate photon-polarization-resolved LBW pair production, our results reveal that γ photon polarization leads to a 5% to 10% reduction in the total LBW positron yield. This suppression arises because the polarization directions of the colliding γ photons are primarily parallel, reducing the LBW cross section compared to the unpolarized case. The influence of γ photon polarization weakens as the laser intensity increases or the scale length of preplasmas at the front of the target increases. |
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| ISSN: | 1367-2630 |