Laser field absorption in self-generated electron-positron pair plasma

TL;DR

This paper develops a numerical model to study how high-intensity lasers are absorbed by self-generated electron-positron pair plasma, showing significant absorption at intensities around 10^{24} W/cm^2, which are achievable soon.

Contribution

A new self-consistent numerical model for electron-positron pair plasma dynamics under intense laser fields is introduced, revealing significant laser energy absorption at attainable intensities.

Findings

Strong laser energy absorption in pair plasma demonstrated

Absorption becomes significant at intensities around 10^{24} W/cm^2

Potential limitations on laser intensity due to pair plasma formation

Abstract

Recently much attention has being attracted to the problem of limitations on the attainable intensity of high power lasers [A.M. Fedotov {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{105}, 080402 (2010)]. The laser energy can be absorbed by electron-positron pair plasma produced from a seed by strong laser field via development of the electromagnetic cascades. The numerical model for self-consistent study of electron-positron pair plasma dynamics is developed. Strong absorption of the laser energy in self-generated overdense electron-positron pair plasma is demonstrated. It is shown that the absorption becomes important for not extremely high laser intensity $I \sim 10^{24}$ W/cm$^2$ achievable in the nearest future.