Comoving acceleration of overdense electron-positron plasma by colliding ultra-intense laser pulses

Abstract

Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation results of sustained acceleration of electron-positron (e+e-) plasmas by comoving electromagnetic (EM) pulses are presented. When a thin slab of overdense e+e- plasma is irradiated with linear-polarized ultra-intense short laser pulses from both sides, the pulses are transmitted when the plasma is compressed to thinner than ∼2 relativistic skin depths. A fraction of the plasma is then captured and efficiently accelerated by self-induced J × B forces. For 1 μm laser and 10 21 Wem -2 intensity, the maximum energy exceeds GeV in a picosecond. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.