Prolific pair production with high-power lasers

TL;DR

This paper investigates prolific electron-positron pair production using high-power lasers, analyzing cascade processes at extreme intensities and exploring different laser polarizations and target geometries.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of pair production cascades at ultra-high laser intensities and generalizes the process to various laser polarizations and target configurations.

Findings

Pair production cascades occur at intensities near 10^{24} W/cm^2.

Circular polarization facilitates cascade development at laser nodes.

Generalization to linear polarization and solid targets broadens applicability.

Abstract

Prolific electron-positron pair production is possible at laser intensities approaching 10^{24} W/cm^2 at a wavelength of 1 micron. An analysis of electron trajectories and interactions at the nodes (B=0) of two counter-propagating, circularly polarised laser beams shows that a cascade of gamma-rays and pairs develops. The geometry is generalised qualitatively to linear polarisation and laser beams incident on a solid target.