Quantum radiation reaction in laser-electron beam collisions

TL;DR

This paper discusses how current high-intensity laser setups can reach the quantum radiation reaction regime, demonstrating increased high-energy photon emission due to quantum effects in laser-electron collisions.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical prediction of enhanced photon yield in laser-electron collisions, highlighting the stochastic nature of quantum synchrotron emission.

Findings

Quantum radiation reaction regime achievable with current lasers

Predicted 60-fold increase in high-energy photon emission over classical theory

Potential for experimental verification using wakefield-accelerated electrons

Abstract

It is possible using current high intensity laser facilities to reach the quantum radiation reaction regime for energetic electrons. An experiment using a wakefield accelerator to drive GeV electrons into a counterpropagating laser pulse would demonstrate the increase in the yield of high energy photons caused by the stochastic nature of quantum synchrotron emission: we show that a beam of $10^9$ 1 GeV electrons colliding with a 30 fs laser pulse of intensity $10^{22}~\text{Wcm}^{-2}$ will emit 6300 photons with energy greater than 700 MeV, $60\times$ the number predicted by classical theory.