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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental Evidence of Radiation Reaction in the Collision of a High-Intensity Laser Pulse with a Laser-Wakefield Accelerated Electron Beam
AU - Cole, J. M.
AU - Behm, K. T.
AU - Gerstmayr, E.
AU - Blackburn, T. G.
AU - Wood, J. C.
AU - Baird, C. D.
AU - Duff, M. J.
AU - Harvey, C.
AU - Ilderton, A.
AU - Joglekar, A. S.
AU - Krushelnick, K.
AU - Kuschel, S.
AU - Marklund, M.
AU - McKenna, P.
AU - Murphy, C. D.
AU - Poder, K.
AU - Ridgers, C. P.
AU - Samarin, G. M.
AU - Sarri, G.
AU - Symes, D. R.
AU - Thomas, A. G. R.
AU - Warwick, J.
AU - Zepf, M.
AU - Najmudin, Z.
AU - Mangles, S. P. D.
PY - 2018/2/7
Y1 - 2018/2/7
N2 - The dynamics of energetic particles in strong electromagnetic fields can be heavily influenced by the energy loss arising from the emission of radiation during acceleration, known as radiation reaction. When interacting with a high-energy electron beam, today's lasers are sufficiently intense to explore the transition between the classical and quantum radiation reaction regimes. We present evidence of radiation reaction in the collision of an ultrarelativistic electron beam generated by laser-wakefield acceleration (epsilon > 500 MeV) with an intense laser pulse (a(0) > 10). We measure an energy loss in the postcollision electron spectrum that is correlated with the detected signal of hard photons (gamma rays), consistent with a quantum description of radiation reaction. The generated gamma rays have the highest energies yet reported from an all-optical inverse Compton scattering scheme, with critical energy epsilon(crit) > 30 MeV.
AB - The dynamics of energetic particles in strong electromagnetic fields can be heavily influenced by the energy loss arising from the emission of radiation during acceleration, known as radiation reaction. When interacting with a high-energy electron beam, today's lasers are sufficiently intense to explore the transition between the classical and quantum radiation reaction regimes. We present evidence of radiation reaction in the collision of an ultrarelativistic electron beam generated by laser-wakefield acceleration (epsilon > 500 MeV) with an intense laser pulse (a(0) > 10). We measure an energy loss in the postcollision electron spectrum that is correlated with the detected signal of hard photons (gamma rays), consistent with a quantum description of radiation reaction. The generated gamma rays have the highest energies yet reported from an all-optical inverse Compton scattering scheme, with critical energy epsilon(crit) > 30 MeV.
KW - THOMSON SCATTERING
KW - PLASMAS
KW - FIELDS
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevX.8.011020
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevX.8.011020
M3 - Journal article
VL - 8
JO - Physical Review X
JF - Physical Review X
SN - 2160-3308
IS - 1
M1 - 011020
ER -