Matter from light-light scattering via Breit-Wheeler events produced by two interacting Compton sources

Abstract

We present the dimensioning of a photon-photon collider based on Compton gamma sources for the observation of Breit-Wheeler pair production and QED γγ events. Two symmetric electron beams, generated by photocathodes and accelerated in linacs, produce two gamma ray beams through Compton back scattering with two J-class lasers. Tuning the system energy above the Breit-Wheeler cross section threshold, a flux of electron-positron pairs is generated out of light-light interaction. The process is analyzed by start-to-end simulations. Realistic numbers of the secondary particle yield, referring to existing state-of-the-art set-ups and a discussion of the feasibility of the experiment taking into account the background signal are presented.