High e+/e- ratio dense pair creation with 1021 W.cm-2 laser irradiating solid targets

E. Liang, T. Clarke, A. Henderson, W. Fu, W. Lo, D. Taylor, P. Chaguine, S. Zhou, Y. Hua, X. Cen, X. Wang, J. Kao, H. Hasson, G. Dyer, K. Serratto, N. Riley, M. Donovan, T. Ditmire

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    58 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    We report results of new pair creation experiments using ∼100 Joule pulses of the Texas Petawatt Laser to irradiate solid gold and platinum targets, with intensities up to ∼1.9 × 1021 W.cm-2 and pulse durations as short as ∼130 fs. Positron to electron (e+/e-) ratios >15% were observed for many thick disk and rod targets, with the highest e+/e- ratio reaching ∼50% for a Pt rod. The inferred pair yield was ∼ few ×1010 with emerging pair density reaching ∼1015 /cm3 so that the pair skin depth becomes < pair jet transverse size. These results represent major milestones towards the goal of creating a significant quantity of dense pair-dominated plasmas with e+/e- approaching 100% and pair skin depth 蠐 pair plasma size, which will have wide-ranging applications to astrophysics and fundamental physics.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Article number13968
    JournalScientific reports
    Volume5
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Sep 14 2015

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General

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