- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Letter
  • Open Access

Highly polarized energetic electrons via intense laser-irradiated tailored targets

Xiaofei Shen*, Zheng Gong†, Karen Z. Hatsagortsyan‡, and Christoph H. Keitel

  • *Present address: Center for Applied Physics and Technology, HEDPS, and SKLNPT, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Contact author: xfshen@pku.edu.cn
  • †Present address: CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
  • ‡Contact author: k.hatsagortsyan@mpi-hd.mpg.de
PDF

Phys. Rev. Research 6, L032075 – Published 30 September, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L032075

Abstract

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 target. The radiative spin polarization and angular separation is facilitated by the standing wave formed via the incident and reflected laser pulses at the overdense plasma surface. Strong electron heating caused by transverse instability enhances photon emission in the density spikes injected into the standing wave near the surface. Two groups of electrons with opposite transverse polarization emerge, antialigned to the magnetic field, which are angularly separated in the standing wave due to the phase-matched oscillation of the magnetic field and the vector potential. The polarized electrons propelled into the plasma slab are focused at the exit by the self-generated quasistatic fields. Our particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate the feasibility of highly polarized electrons with a single 10 PW laser beam, e.g., with polarization of 60% and charge of 8 pC selected at energy of 200 MeV within 15 mrad angle and 10% energy spread.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (82)

  1. G. Moortgat-Pick, T. Abe, G. Alexander, B. Ananthanarayan, A. A. Babich, V. Bharadwaj, D. Barber, A. Bartl, A. Brachmann, S. Chen et al., Polarized positrons and electrons at the linear collider, Phys. Rep. 460, 131 (2008).
  2. A. Accardi, J. Albacete, M. Anselmino, N. Armesto, E. Aschenauer, A. Bacchetta, D. Boer, W. Brooks, T. Burton, N.-B. Chang et al., Electron-Ion Collider: The next QCD frontier: Understanding the glue that binds us all, Eur. Phys. J. A 52, 268 (2016).
  3. D. Abbott et al. (PEPPo Collaboration), Production of highly polarized positrons using polarized electrons at MeV energies, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 214801 (2016).
  4. R. Feder, Polarized Electrons in Surface Physics (World Scientific, Singapore, 1986), Vol. 1.
  5. S. A. Wolf, D. D. Awschalom, R. A. Buhrman, J. M. Daughton, S. von Molnár, M. L. Roukes, A. Y. Chtchelkanova, and D. M. Treger, Spintronics: A spin-based electronics vision for the future, Science 294, 1488 (2001).
  6. I. Žutić, J. Fabian, and S. Das Sarma, Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications, Rev. Mod. Phys. 76, 323 (2004).
  7. D. T. Pierce and F. Meier, Photoemission of spin-polarized electrons from GaAs, Phys. Rev. B 13, 5484 (1976).
  8. W. Hartmann, D. Conrath, W. Gasteyer, H. J. Gessinger, W. Heil, H. Kessler, L. Koch, E. Reichert, H. G. Andresen, T. Kettner et al., A source of polarized electrons based on photoemission of GaAsP, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A 286, 1 (1990).
  9. A. A. Sokolov and I. M. Ternov, On polarization and spin effects in the theory of synchrotron radiation, Sov. Phys. Dokl. 8, 1203 (1964).
  10. A. A. Sokolov and I. M. Ternov, Synchrotron Radiation (Akademic, Germany, 1968).
  11. V. N. Baier and V. M. Katkov, Radiational polarization of electrons in inhomogeneous magnetic field, Phys. Lett. A 24, 327 (1967).
  12. V. N. Baĭer, Radiative polarization of electron in storage rings, Sov. Phys. Usp. 14, 695 (1972).
  13. M. Wen, M. Tamburini, and C. H. Keitel, Polarized laser-wakefield-accelerated Kiloampere electron beams, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 214801 (2019).
  14. Y. Wu, L. Ji, X. Geng, Q. Yu, N. Wang, B. Feng, Z. Guo, W. Wang, C. Qin, and X. Yan, Polarized electron-beam acceleration driven by vortex laser pulses, New J. Phys. 21, 073052 (2019).
  15. M. Büscher, A. Hützen, L. Ji, and A. Lehrach, Generation of polarized particle beams at relativistic laser intensities, High Power Laser Sci. Eng. 8, e36 (2020).
  16. H. C. Fan, X. Y. Liu, X. F. Li, J. F. Qu, Q. Yu, Q. Kong, S. M. Weng, M. Chen, M. Büscher, P. Gibbon, S. Kawata, and Z. M. Sheng, Control of electron beam polarization in the bubble regime of laser-wakefield acceleration, New J. Phys. 24, 083047 (2022).
  17. Z. Nie, F. Li, F. Morales, S. Patchkovskii, O. Smirnova, W. An, N. Nambu, D. Matteo, K. A. Marsh, F. Tsung et al., In situ generation of high-energy spin-polarized electrons in a beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 054801 (2021).
  18. Z. Nie, F. Li, F. Morales, S. Patchkovskii, O. Smirnova, W. An, C. Zhang, Y. Wu, N. Nambu, D. Matteo et al., Highly spin-polarized multi-GeV electron beams generated by single-species plasma photocathodes, Phys. Rev. Res. 4, 033015 (2022).
  19. J. W. Yoon, Y. G. Kim, I. W. Choi, J. H. Sung, H. W. Lee, S. K. Lee, and C. H. Nam, Realization of laser intensity over 1023W/cm2, Optica 8, 630 (2021).
  20. F. Lureau, G. Matras, O. Chalus, C. Derycke, T. Morbieu, C. Radier, O. Casagrande, S. Laux, S. Ricaud, G. Rey et al., High-energy hybrid femtosecond laser system demonstrating 2×10 PW capability, High Power Laser Sci. Eng. 8, e43 (2020).
  21. W. Li, Z. Gan, L. Yu, C. Wang, Y. Liu, Z. Guo, L. Xu, M. Xu, Y. Hang, Y. Xu et al., 339 J high-energy Ti: sapphire chirped-pulse amplifier for 10 PW laser facility, Opt. Lett. 43, 5681 (2018)
  22. C. N. Danson, C. Haefner, J. Bromage, T. Butcher, J.-C. F. Chanteloup, E. A. Chowdhury, A. Galvanauskas, L. A. Gizzi, J. Hein, D. I. Hillier et al., Petawatt and exawatt class lasers worldwide, High Power Laser Sci. Eng. 7, e54 (2019).
  23. A. Gonoskov, T. G. Blackburn, M. Marklund, and S. S. Bulanov, Charged particle motion and radiation in strong electromagnetic fields, Rev. Mod. Phys. 94, 045001 (2022).
  24. B. Shao, Y. Li, Y. Peng, P. Wang, J. Qian, Y. Leng, and R. Li, Broad-bandwidth high-temporal-contrast carrier-envelope-phase-stabilized laser seed for 100 PW lasers, Opt. Lett. 45, 2215 (2020).
  25. Exawatt Center for Extreme Light Studies (XCELS), https://xcels.iapras.ru.
  26. A. Di Piazza, C. Müller, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, and C. H. Keitel, Extremely high-intensity laser interactions with fundamental quantum systems, Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 1177 (2012).
  27. A. Fedotov, A. Ilderton, F. Karbstein, B. King, D. Seipt, H. Taya, and G. Torgrimsson, Advances in QED with intense background fields, Phys. Rep. 1010, 1 (2023).
  28. L. Ji, A. Pukhov, E. N. Nerush, I. Y. Kostyukov, B. F. Shen, and K. U. Akli, Energy partition, gamma-ray emission, and radiation reaction in the near-quantum electrodynamical regime of laser-plasma interaction, Phys. Plasmas 21, 023109 (2014).
  29. A. Gonoskov, A. Bashinov, S. Bastrakov, E. Efimenko, A. Ilderton, A. Kim, M. Marklund, I. Meyerov, A. Muraviev, and A. Sergeev, Ultrabright GeV photon source via controlled electromagnetic cascades in laser-dipole waves, Phys. Rev. X 7, 041003 (2017).
  30. A. Sampath, X. Davoine, S. Corde, L. Gremillet, M. Gilljohann, M. Sangal, C. H. Keitel, R. Ariniello, J. Cary, H. Ekerfelt et al., Extremely dense gamma-ray pulses in electron beam-multifoil collisions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 064801 (2021).
  31. H. X. Chang, B. Qiao, Z. Xu, X. R. Xu, C. T. Zhou, X. Q. Yan, S. Z. Wu, M. Borghesi, M. Zepf, and X. T. He, Generation of overdense and high-energy electron-positron-pair plasmas by irradiation of a thin foil with two ultraintense lasers, Phys. Rev. E 92, 053107 (2015).
  32. A. R. Bell and J. G. Kirk, Possibility of prolific pair production with high-power lasers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 200403 (2008).
  33. C. P. Ridgers, C. S. Brady, R. Duclous, J. G. Kirk, K. Bennett, T. D. Arber, A. P. Robinson, and A. R. Bell, Dense electron-positron plasmas and ultraintense rays from laser-irradiated solids, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 165006 (2012).
  34. A. Di Piazza, Nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production in a tightly focused laser beam, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 213201 (2016).
  35. M. Vranic, T. Grismayer, R. A. Fonseca, and L. O. Silva, Electron-positron cascades in multiple-laser optical traps, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 59, 014040 (2017).
  36. G. L. Kotkin, V. G. Serbo, and V. I. Telnov, Electron (positron) beam polarization by Compton scattering on circularly polarized laser photons, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 6, 011001 (2003).
  37. D. Yu. Ivanov, G. L. Kotkin, and V. G. Serbo, Complete description of polarization effects in emission of a photon by an electron in the field of a strong laser wave, Eur. Phys. J. C 36, 127 (2004).
  38. D. V. Karlovets, Radiative polarization of electrons in a strong laser wave, Phys. Rev. A 84, 062116 (2011).
  39. D. Seipt, D. Del Sorbo, C. P. Ridgers, and A. G. R. Thomas, Theory of radiative electron polarization in strong laser fields, Phys. Rev. A 98, 023417 (2018).
  40. Y.-F. Li, R. Shaisultanov, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, F. Wan, C. H. Keitel, and J.-X. Li, Ultrarelativistic electron-beam polarization in single-shot interaction with an ultraintense laser pulse, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 154801 (2019).
  41. Y.-Y. Chen, P.-L. He, R. Shaisultanov, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, and C. H. Keitel, Polarized positron beams via intense two-color laser pulses, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 174801 (2019); H.-H. Song, W.-M. Wang, J.-X. Li, Y.-F. Li, and Y.-T. Li, Spin-polarization effects of an ultrarelativistic electron beam in an ultraintense two-color laser pulse, Phys. Rev. A 100, 033407 (2019).
  42. D. Seipt, D. Del Sorbo, C. P. Ridgers, and A. G. R. Thomas, Ultrafast polarization of an electron beam in an intense bichromatic laser field, Phys. Rev. A 100, 061402(R) (2019).
  43. D. Del Sorbo, D. Seipt, T. G. Blackburn, A. G. R. Thomas, C. D. Murphy, J. G. Kirk, and C. P. Ridgers, Spin polarization of electrons by ultraintense lasers, Phys. Rev. A 96, 043407 (2017).
  44. Q. Han, X. Geng, B. Shen, Z. Xu, and L. Ji, Ultra-fast polarization of a thin electron layer in the rotational standing-wave field driven by double ultra-intense laser pulses, New J. Phys. 24, 063013 (2022).
  45. Q. Qian, D. Seipt, M. Vranic, T. E. Grismayer, T. G. Blackburn, C. P. Ridgers, and A. G. R. Thomas, Parametric study of the polarization dependence of nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair creation process using two laser pulses, Phys. Plasmas 30, 103107 (2023).
  46. K. Poder, M. Tamburini, G. Sarri, A. Di Piazza, S. Kuschel, C. D. Baird, K. Behm, S. Bohlen, J. M. Cole, D. J. Corvan et al., Experimental signatures of the quantum nature of radiation reaction in the field of an ultraintense laser, Phys. Rev. X 8, 031004 (2018);.
  47. J. M. Cole, K. T. Behm, E. Gerstmayr, T. G. Blackburn, J. C. Wood, C. D. Baird, M. J. Duff, C. Harvey, A. Ilderton et al., Experimental evidence of radiation reaction in the collision of a high-intensity laser pulse with a laser-wakefield accelerated electron beam, Phys. Rev. X 8, 011020 (2018).
  48. H.-H. Song, W.-M. Wang, and Y.-T. Li, Dense polarized positrons from laser-irradiated foil targets in the QED regime, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 035001 (2022).
  49. Z. Gong, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, and C. H. Keitel, Retrieving transient magnetic fields of ultrarelativistic laser plasma via ejected electron polarization, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 165002 (2021).
  50. Z. Gong, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, and C. H. Keitel, Electron polarization in ultrarelativistic plasma current filamentation instabilities, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 015101 (2023).
  51. K. Xue, T. Sun, K.-J. Wei, Z.-P. Li, Q. Zhao, F. Wan, C. Lv, Y.-T. Zhao, Z.-F. Xu et al., Generation of high-density high-polarization positrons via single-shot strong laser-foil interaction, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 175101 (2023).
  52. T. Arber, K. Bennett, C. Brady, A. Lawrence-Douglas, M. Ramsay, N. Sircombe, P. Gillies, R. Evans, H. Schmitz, A. Bell et al., Contemporary particle-in-cell approach to laser-plasma modelling, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 57, 113001 (2015).
  53. F. Pegoraro and S. V. Bulanov, Photon bubbles and ion acceleration in a plasma dominated by the radiation pressure of an electromagnetic pulse, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 065002 (2007).
  54. X. F. Shen, B. Qiao, H. Zhang, S. Kar, C. T. Zhou, H. X. Chang, M. Borghesi, and X. T. He, Achieving stable radiation pressure acceleration of heavy ions via successive electron replenishment from ionization of a high-Z material coating, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 204802 (2017).
  55. A. P. L. Robinson, P. Gibbon, M. Zepf, S. Kar, R. G. Evans, and C. Bellei, Relativistically correct hole-boring and ion acceleration by circularly polarized laser pulses, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 51, 024004 (2009).
  56. A. Macchi, S. Veghini, and F. Pegoraro, “Light sail” acceleration reexamined, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 085003 (2009).
  57. I. Yu. Kostyukov and E. N. Nerush, Production and dynamics of positrons in ultrahigh intensity laser-foil interactions, Phys. Plasmas 23, 093119 (2016).
  58. See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L032075 for mainly includes the details of the spin flip process and more discussions about the field structure of the standing wave, the electron heating/acceleration mechanism, the Bremsstrahlung effect, the robustness of our results including using a 5 PW laser pulse and considering different target materials, preplasma, oblique incidence, pointing instability, initial carrier envelop phase, and 3D, and the numerical convergence. It includes Refs. [68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82].
  59. A. M. Perelomov, V. S. Popov, and M. V. Terent'ev, Ionization of atoms in an alternating electric field, Sov. Phys. JETP 23, 924 (1966); Ionization of atoms in an alternating electric field: II, 24, 207 (1967).
  60. M. V. Ammosov, N. B. Delone, and V. P. Krainov, Tunnel ionization of complex atoms and of atomic ions in an alternating electromagnetic field, Sov. Phys. JETP 64, 1191 (1986).
  61. P. Gibbon, Short pulse laser interactions with matter (Imperial College Press, 2005).
  62. A. Macchi, M. Borghesi, and M. Passoni, Ion acceleration by superintense laser-plasma interaction, Rev. Mod. Phys. 85, 751 (2013).
  63. X. F. Shen, A. Pukhov, and B. Qiao, Monoenergetic high-energy ion source via femtosecond laser interacting with a microtape, Phys. Rev. X 11, 041002 (2021).
  64. S. Buffechoux, J. Psikal, M. Nakatsutsumi, L. Romagnani, A. Andreev, K. Zeil, M. Amin, P. Antici, T. Burris-Mog, A. Compant-La-Fontaine et al., Hot electrons transverse refluxing in ultraintense laser-solid interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 015005 (2010).
  65. T. André, I. A. Andriyash, A. Loulergue, M. Labat, E. Roussel, A. Ghaith, M. Khojoyan, C. Thaury, M. Valléau, F. Briquez et al., Control of laser plasma accelerated electrons for light sources, Nat. Commun. 9, 1334 (2018).
  66. J. van Tilborg, S. Steinke, C. G. R. Geddes, N. H. Matlis, B. H. Shaw, A. J. Gonsalves, J. V. Huijts, K. Nakamura, J. Daniels, C. B. Schroeder et al., Active plasma lensing for relativistic laser-plasma-accelerated electron beams, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 184802 (2015).
  67. A. R. Maier, N. M. Delbos, T. Eichner, L. Hübner, S. Jalas, L. Jeppe, S. W. Jolly, M. Kirchen, V. Leroux, P. Messner, M. Schnepp et al., Decoding sources of energy variability in a laser-plasma accelerator, Phys. Rev. X 10, 031039 (2020).
  68. K. Nakamura, H.-S. Mao, A. J. Gonsalves, D. E. Mittelberger, J. Daniels, A. Magana, C. Toth, and W. P. Leemans, Diagnostics, control and performance parameters for the BELLA high repetition rate petawatt class laser, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 53, 1200121 (2017).
  69. T. Esirkepov, M. Borghesi, S. V. Bulanov, G. Mourou, and T. Tajima, Highly efficient relativistic-ion generation in the laser-piston regime, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 175003 (2004).
  70. B. Dromey, S. Rykovanov, M. Yeung, R. Hörlein, D. Jung, D. C. Gautier, T. Dzelzainis, D. Kiefer, S. Palaniyppan, R. Shah et al., Coherent synchrotron emission from electron nanobunches formed in relativistic laser plasma interactions, Nat. Phys. 8, 804 (2012).
  71. H. Vincenti, Achieving extreme light intensities using optically curved relativistic plasma mirrors, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 105001 (2019).
  72. A. Lévy, T. Ceccotti, P. DÓliveira, F. Réau, M. Perdrix, F. Quéré, P. Monot, M. Bougeard et al., Double plasma mirror for ultrahigh temporal contrast ultraintense laser pulses, Opt. Lett. 32, 310 (2007).
  73. Y. Huang, C. Zhang, Y. Xu, D. Li, Y. Leng, R. Li, and Z. Xu, Ultrashort pulse temporal contrast enhancement based on noncollinear optical-parametric amplification, Opt. Lett. 36, 781 (2011).
  74. H. Kiriyama, Y. Miyasaka, A. Kon, M. Nishiuchi, A. Sagisaka, H. Sasao, A. S. Pirozhkov, Y. Fukuda, K. Ogura, K. Kondo, N. P. Dover et al., Enhancement of pre-pulse and picosecond pedestal contrast of the petawatt J-KAREN-P laser, High Power Laser Sci. Eng. 9, e62 (2021).
  75. P. Wang, Z. Gong, S. G. Lee, Y. Shou, Y. Geng, C. Jeon, I. J. Kim, H. W. Lee, J. W. Yoon, J. H. Sung et al., Super-heavy ions acceleration driven by ultrashort laser pulses at ultrahigh intensity, Phys. Rev. X 11, 021049 (2021).
  76. F. P. Condamine, N. Jourdain, J.-C. Hernandez, M. Taylor, H. Bohlin, A. Fajstavr, T. M. Jeong. D. Kumar, T. Lastovicka, O. Renner, and S. Weber, High-repetition rate solid target delivery system for PW-class laser matter interaction at ELI Beamlines, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 92, 063504 (2021).
  77. F. Salvat, PENELOPE-2008: A Code System for Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron, Photon Transport (Nuclear Energy Agency, Barcelona, 2009).
  78. G. R. Blumenthal, and R. J. Gould, Bremsstrahlung, synchrotron radiation, and compton scattering of high-energy electrons traversing dilute gases, Rev. Mod. Phys. 42, 237 (1970).
  79. F. Wan, C. Lv, M. Jia, H. Sang, and B. Xie, Photon emission by bremsstrahlung and nonlinear Compton scattering in the interaction of ultraintense laser with plasmas, Eur. Phys. J. D 71, 236 (2017).
  80. H. Olsen and L. C. Maximon, Photon and electron polarization in high-energy bremsstrahlung and pair production with screening, Phys. Rev. 114, 887 (1959).
  81. J. Beringer et al. (Particle Data Group), Review of particle physics, Phys. Rev. D 86, 010001 (2012).
  82. G. Alexander, J. Barley, Y. Batygin, S. Berridge, V. Bharadwaj, G. Bower, W. Bugg, F.-J. Decker, R. Dollan, Y. Efremenko et al., Undulator-based production of polarized positrons, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A 610, 451 (2009).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 6, L032075– Published 30 September, 2024
  • Received 3 August 2023
  • Accepted 1 July 2024
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by Max Planck Society.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation