Generation of polarized particle beams at relativistic laser intensities

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in generating polarized particle beams using strong laser and plasma fields, highlighting mechanisms, modeling, and experimental progress in the field.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the current status, concepts, and techniques related to polarized laser-plasma accelerators and beam polarimetry.

Findings

Progress in understanding polarization mechanisms

Advances in numerical modeling of polarized acceleration

Experimental implementations of polarized beam generation

Abstract

The acceleration of polarized electrons, positrons, protons and ions in strong laser and plasma fields is a very attractive option to obtain polarized beams in the multi-MeV range. Recently, there has been substantial progress in the understanding of the dominant mechanisms leading to high degrees of polarization, in the numerical modelling of these processes and in their experimental implementation. This review article presents an overview on the current status of the field, on the concepts of polarized laser-plasma accelerators and of the beam polarimetry.