Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Creation of electron-positron plasma with superstrong laser field

  • Review
  • IZEST Science: Extreme Fields and Nonlinear QED
  • Published:
The European Physical Journal Special Topics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We present a short review of recent progress in studying QED effects within the interaction of ultra-relativistic laser pulses with vacuum and e − e + plasma. Current development in laser technologies promises very rapid growth of laser intensities in the near future. Two exawatt class facilities (ELI and XCELS, Russia) in Europe are already in the planning stage. Realization of these projects will make available a laser intensity of ∼ 1026 W/cm2 or even higher. Therefore, discussion of nonlinear optical effects in vacuum are becoming compelling for experimentalists and are currently gaining much attention. We show that, in spite of the fact that the expected field strength is still essentially less than E S = m 2 c 3/eℏ = 1.32 · 1016 V/cm, the nonlinear vacuum effects will be accessible for observation at the ELI and XCELS facilities. The most promissory effect for observation is pair creation by a laser pulse in vacuum. It is shown, that at intensities ∼ 5 · 1025 W/cm2, creation even of a single pair is accompanied by the development of an avalanche QED cascade. There exists a distinctive feature of the laser-induced cascades, as compared with the air showers arising due primarily to cosmic rays entering the atmosphere. In our case the laser field plays not only the role of a target (similar to a nucleus in the case of air showers) but is also responsible for the acceleration of slow particles. It is shown that the effect of pair creation imposes a natural limit for the attainable laser intensity and, apparently, the field strength E ∼ E S is not accessible for a pair-creating electromagnetic field at all.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. D. Strickland, G. Mourou, Opt. Commun. 56, 219 (1985)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. V. Yanovsky, et al., Opt. Expr. 16, 2109 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. http://www.extreme-light-infrastructure.eu

  4. http://www.xcels.iapras.ru

  5. G.A. Mourou, T. Tajima, S.V. Bulanov, Rev. Mod. Phys. 78, 309 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. A. Di Piazza, C. Müller, K.Z. Hatsagortsyan, C.H. Keitel, Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 1177 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. http://www.izest.polytechnique.edu

  8. R. Baier, P. Breitenlohner, Acta Phys. Austr. 25, 212 (1967)

    Google Scholar 

  9. N.B. Narozhnyi, Sov. Phys. JETP 28, 371 (1969)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. I.A. Batalin, A.E. Shabad, Sov. Phys. JETP 33, 483 (1971)

    ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. S.L. Adler, Ann. Phys. (NY) 67, 599 (1971)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Z. Bialynicka-Birula, I. Bialynicka-Birula, Phys. Rev D 2, 2341 (1970)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. V.O. Papanyan, V.I. Ritus, Sov. Phys. JETP 34, 1195 (1972)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. T. Erber, Rev. Mod. Phys. 38, 626 (1966)

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  15. V.I. Ritus, Sov. Phys. JETP 30, 1181 (1970)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. I.M. Dremin, JETP Lett. 76 151 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. N.N. Rozanov, JETP 86, 284 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. M. Soljačić, M. Segev, Phys. Rev. A 62, 043817 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. D. Kharzeev, K. Tuchin, Phys. Rev. A 75, 043807 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. A. Di Piazza, K.Z. Hatsagortsyan, C.H. Keitel, Phys. Rev. D 72, 085005 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. B.E. Lundström, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 083602 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. A.E. Kaplan, Y.J. Ding, Phys. Rev. A 62, 043805 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. A.M. Fedotov, N.B. Narozhny, Phys. Lett. A 362, 1 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. V.I. Ritus, J. Sov. Laser Res. 6, 497 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. A.I. Nikishov, J. Sov. Laser Res. 5, 619 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. A.I. Nikishov, V.I Ritus, Trudy FIAN 168, (1986) [in Russian]

  27. V.N. Baier, V.M. Katkov, V.M. Strakhovenko, Electromagnetic processes at high energies in oriented single crystals (World Scientific, Singapore, 1998)

  28. C. Bula, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3116 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. D.L. Burke, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1626 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. C. Bamber, et al., Phys. Rev. D 60, 092004 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. F. Sauter, Z. Phys. 69, 742 (1931)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. F. Sauter, Z. Phys. 73, 547 (1932)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. J. Schwinger, Phys. Rev. 82, 664 (1951)

    Article  ADS  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  34. N.B. Narozhny, S.S. Bulanov, V.D. Mur, V.S. Popov, Phys. Lett. A 330, 1 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. S.S. Bulanov, N.B. Narozhny, V.D. Mur, V.S. Popov, JETP 102, 9 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. A.M. Fedotov, Laser Phys. 19, 214 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. A.I. Nikishov, Sov. Phys. JETP 30, 660 (1970)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  38. N.B. Narozhny, M.S. Fofanov, JETP 90, 753 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. S.S. Bulanov, V.D. Mur, N.B. Narozhny, J. Nees, V.S. Popov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 220404 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. I.M. Bassett, Optica Acta: Int. J. Opt. 33, 279 (1986)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  41. I. Gonoskov, A. Aiello, S. Heugel, G. Leuchs, Phys. Rev. A 86, 053836 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. A. Gonoskov, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 060404 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  43. I.V. Sokolov, N.M. Naumova, J.A. Nees, G.A. Mourou, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 195005 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  44. S.S. Bulanov, M. Chen, C.B. Schroeder, et al., AIP Conf. Proc. 1507, 825 (2012)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. S.S. Bulanov, C.B. Schroeder, E. Esarey, W.P. Leemans, Phys. Rev. A 87, 062110 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  46. P. Auger, et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 11, 288 (1939)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  47. T.K. Gaisser, Cosmic Rays and Particle Physics (Cambridge University Press, 1990)

  48. A.T. Bharucha-Reid, Elements of the Theory of Markov Processes and Their Applications (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960)

  49. A.I. Akhiezer, N.P. Merenkov, A.P. Rekalo, J. Phys. G 20, 1499 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. V. Anguelov, H. Vankov, J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 25, 1755 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. N.V. Elkina, et al., Phys. Rev. STAB 14, 054401 (2011)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  52. A. Di Piazza, K.Z. Hatsagortsyan, C.H. Keitel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 220403 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. N. Neitz, A. Di Piazza, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 054802 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  54. W. Heitler, The quantum theory of radiation, 3rd edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954)

  55. A.R. Bell, J.G. Kirk, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 200403 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  56. J.G. Kirk, A.R. Bell, I. Arka, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 51, 085008 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  57. A.M. Fedotov, N.B. Narozhny, G. Mourou, G. Korn, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 080402 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  58. B.G. Streetman, S. Banerjee, Solid State Electronic Devices (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000)

  59. N.B. Narozhny, Phys. Rev. D 21, 1176 (1980)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  60. M.V. Legkov, A.M. Fedotov, N. Elkina, H. Ruhl, Proc. SPIE 7994, LAT 2010: Int. Conf. on Lasers, Appl. Technol., 799423 (2011)

  61. E.N. Nerush, I.Yu. Kostyukov [arXiv:1101.4385v1]

  62. R. Duclous, J.G. Kirk, A.R. Bell, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 53, 015009 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  63. E.N. Nerush, V.F. Bashmakov, I.Yu. Kostyukov, Phys. Plasmas 18, 083107 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  64. V.F. Bashmakov, et al. [arXiv:1310.4077v1]

  65. E.N. Nerush, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 035001 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  66. S.S. Bulanov, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 220407 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  67. B. King, N. Elkina, H. Ruhl, Phys. Rev. A 87, 042117 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  68. C.P. Ridgers, et al., Phys. Plasmas 20, 056701 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  69. J.G. Kirk, A.R. Bell, C.P. Ridgers, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 55, 095016 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  70. E.N. Nerush, I.Yu. Kostyukov, L. Ji, A. Pukhov [arXiv:1309.1648v1]

  71. T. Nakamura, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 195001 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  72. E.P. Liang, S.C. Wilks, M. Tabak, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4887 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  73. S.V. Bulanov, et al., Nucl. Instr. Methods Phys. Res. A 660, 31 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  74. S.V. Bulanov, et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 53, 124025 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  75. N.V. Elkina (private communication)

  76. A. Gonoskov, et al. [arXiv:1306.5734v2]

  77. A. Zhidkov, et al. [arXiv:1308.1608v1]

  78. F. Hebenstreit, R. Alkofer, H. Gies, Phys. Rev. D 82, 105026 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Nuclear University MEPHI, 115409, Moscow, Russia

    N.B. Narozhny & A.M. Fedotov

Authors
  1. N.B. Narozhny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A.M. Fedotov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Narozhny, N., Fedotov, A. Creation of electron-positron plasma with superstrong laser field. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 223, 1083–1092 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02159-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02159-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation