The new intensity frontier: exploring quantum electrodynamic plasmas

新的强度前沿：探索量子电动等离子体

• 批准号: EP/V049461/1
• 负责人: Christopher Ridgers
• 金额: $ 55.25万
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FV049461%2F1
• 关键词: new; intensity; frontier; exploring; quantum

Advances in laser technology have enabled the focussing of light to extreme intensities, capable of creating exotic states of matter, typically characterised as high temperature plasma - the forth state of matter, in which the electrons and ion matter constituents are moving around with high velocity. New ultrahigh intensity lasers, due to come online in the next few years at international research facilities, will focus light to ten times higher intensity that is achievable at present. This will be sufficient to create an entirely new state of plasma in which quantum electrodynamics (QED) processes play an important role. This new state is the so-called QED-plasma. This state of matter is largely unexplored in the laboratory and yet will play a crucial role in many of the experiments to be performed using next generation high power lasers. While QED theory is well established for the interaction of single particles, but QED-plasmas are complex systems of very many particles. This creates a challenge as in quantum theory all possible interactions must be considered and in QED-plasmas the large number of particles gives far too many possibilities for standard QED theory to be used. While semi-classical models have been developed which include what are expected to be the most important quantum effects, these have yet to be tested experimentally. We will conduct a programme of work to test our models of QED interactions in strong electromagnetic fields for the first time using existing particle accelerators and high power lasers. We will then use this model to design experiments to generate and explore the first QED-plasma in the laboratory, which we will subsequently perform on new next generation high-intensity laser facilities. QED-plasmas are postulated to play a key role in extreme astrophysical environments such as in the extremely strong magnetic fields around pulsars, for example populating the magnetosphere with an electron-positron plasma in a cascade of antimatter production. The demonstration and investigation of the QED-plasma state in experiments will give us the opportunity to probe this physics in the laboratory for the first time.

激光技术的进步使光的集中在极端强度上，能够产生异国情调的物质状态，通常以高温等离子体为特征，即电子和离子物质成分以高速移动的物质状态。新的超高强度激光器将在未来几年在国际研究设施上进行上网，目前将把强度更高的强度集中在十倍上。这将足以创建一个全新的等离子体状态，在该血浆中，量子电动力学（QED）过程起着重要作用。这个新状态是所谓的QED播种。这种物质在实验室中基本上没有探索，但在许多使用下一代高功率激光器进行的实验中将发挥至关重要的作用。 QED理论是为单个颗粒的相互作用而建立的，但QED播种是许多颗粒的复杂系统。这带来了一个挑战，因为在量子理论中，所有可能的相互作用都必须考虑在QED播音中，大量粒子给使用的标准QED理论提供了太多的可能性。虽然已经开发了半古典模型，其中包括预期是最重要的量子效应，但这些量子尚未通过实验进行测试。我们将首次使用现有的粒子加速器和高功率激光器来首次在强电磁场中测试QED相互作用的模型。然后，我们将使用该模型设计实验，以生成和探索实验室中的第一个QED播种，随后我们将对新的下一代高强度激光设施进行执行。假定QED播种是在极端的天体物理环境中起着关键作用，例如在脉冲星周围极强的磁场中，例如，在一系列反物质生产中，用电子峰等离子体填充磁层。在实验中对QED - 血压状态的演示和调查将使我们有机会在实验室中首次探究该物理学。

项目成果

Gamma-Ray Flash in the Interaction of a Tightly Focused Single-Cycle Ultraintense Laser Pulse with a Solid Target

紧密聚焦单周期超强激光脉冲与固体目标相互作用中的伽马射线闪光

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2109.11401
• 发表时间: 2021
• 作者: Hadjisolomou P

Gamma-ray flash in the interaction of a tightly focused single-cycle ultra-intense laser pulse with a solid target

• DOI: 10.1017/s0022377821001318
• 发表时间: 2022-01-19
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF PLASMA PHYSICS
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Hadjisolomou, P.;Jeong, T. M.;Bulanov, S., V
• 通讯作者: Bulanov, S., V

Effect of electron-beam energy chirp on signatures of radiation reaction in laser-based experiments

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevaccelbeams.26.104002
• 发表时间: 2023-05
• 期刊: Physical Review Accelerators and Beams
• 影响因子: 1.7
• 作者: J. Magnusson;T. Blackburn;E. Gerstmayr;E. Los;M. Marklund;C. Ridgers;S. Mangles