Bound-free $\mathbf{e}^+ \mathbf{e}^-$ pair creation with a linearly polarized laser field and a nuclear field

TL;DR

This paper investigates bound-free electron-positron pair creation in combined laser and nuclear fields, focusing on relativistic ion collisions with intense linearly polarized x-ray lasers, and predicts observable pair production rates at upcoming laser facilities.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of nonlinear bound-free pair production rates and angular distributions in relativistic laser-nuclear collisions, with numerical predictions for future laser facilities.

Findings

Pair production rates are within observable range for planned x-ray laser facilities.

Angular distributions of emitted positrons are characterized.

Comparison shows the bound-free process can dominate over free-free channels under certain conditions.

Abstract

The process of bound-free pair production of electrons and positrons in combined laser and Coulomb fields is investigated. It is assumed that an ion collides at relativistic speed with an intense x-ray laser beam of linear polarization. The process proceeds nonlinearly due to simultaneous absorption of a few laser photons. The capture of the electron into the ground state and the $L$-shell is considered. The scaling of the total rate, the angular distributions of the emitted positrons and a comparison to the competing free-free channel are surveyed. Numerical results of pair production rates for parameters for the planned x-ray free electron lasers at DESY and SLAC are presented. We find that pair production with these laser facilities can become observable in the near future.