Magnetic collimation of relativistic positrons and electrons from high intensity laser-matter interactions

Hui Chen, G. Fiksel, D. Barnak, P. Y. Chang, R. F. Heeter, A. Link, D. D. Meyerhofer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Collimation of positrons produced by laser-solid interactions has been observed using an externally applied axial magnetic field. The collimation leads to a narrow divergence positron beam, with an equivalent full width at half maximum beam divergence angle of 4° vs the un-collimated divergence of about 20°. A fraction of the laser-produced relativistic electrons with energies close to those of the positrons is collimated, so the charge imbalance ratio (ne-/ne+) in the co-propagating collimated electron-positron jet is reduced from ∼100 (no collimation) to ∼2.5 (with collimation). The positron density in the collimated beam increased from 5×107cm-3 to 1.9×109cm -3, measured at the 0.6m from the source. This is a significant step towards the grand challenge of making a charge neutral electron-positron pair plasma jet in the laboratory.

Original languageEnglish
Article number040703
JournalPhysics of Plasmas
Volume21
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014 Apr

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Condensed Matter Physics

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