4th European Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop

Experimental Signatures of the Quantum Nature of Radiation Reaction in the Field of an Ultraintense Laser

19 Sept 2019, 12:10

30m

SML (Hotel Hermitage)

talk Invited Plenary Talk Plenary Session 8

Speaker

Gianluca Sarri (Queen's University Belfast)

Description

Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) represents one of the greatest theoretical achievements in modern physics, able to elegantly combine electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, and special relativity into a unified theory. Its predictions have been tested to a high degree of precision in relatively low fields but, thus far, little is experimentally known about the behaviour of quantum systems in fields comparable to the QED critical field ($E_S$ ~ $1.3\times {10}^{18}$ V/m). At these field intensities, exotic phenomena are predicted to occur, such as stochastic photon emission, electron-positron pair production in vacuum, and strong radiation reaction.
The fast-paced development of high-power laser technology is now opening up the possibility of studying high-field QED in the focus of a laser. For instance, a 1 GeV electron propagating through a laser field with a realistic intensity of ${10}^{21}$ W/cm${}^2$, already experiences a field of the order of $0.2E_S$.
In this talk, we will discuss experimental campaigns carried out at the Central Laser Facility on quantum effects in radiation reaction and on pair production via linear Breit-Wheeler, together with future campaigns currently under preparation at the Eu-XFEL and FACET-II.The implications of these experiments for the next generation of ultra-high power laser facilities will also be discussed.

Presentation materials

GSarri_EAAC_2019.pdf