transcript
Zheng Gong,∗ Karen Z. Hatsagortsyan,† and Christoph H. Keitel
Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117
Heidelberg, Germany
(Dated: November 2, 2021)
Understanding and interpretation of the dynamics of
ultrarelativistic plasma is a challenge, which calls for the
development of methods for in situ probing the plasma dynamical
characteristics. We put forward a new probing method, harnessing
polarization properties of γ-photons spontaneously emitted from a
non-prepolarized plasma irradiated by a circularly polarized strong
laser pulse. We show that the temporal and angular pattern of
γ-photon linear polarization is explicitly correlated with the
instantaneous dynamics of the radiating electrons, which provides
information on the laser- plasma interaction regime. Furthermore,
with the γ-photon circular polarization originated from the
electron radiative spin-flips, the plasma susceptibility to quantum
electrodynamical processes is gauged. Our study demonstrates that
the polarization signal of emitted γ-photons from ultrarel-
ativistic plasma can be a versatile information source, which would
be beneficial for the research fields of laser-driven plasma,
accelerator science, and laboratory astrophysics.
The successful decoding of field properties nearby the event
horizon [1] re-stimulates the interest in measure- ments based on
photon polarization [2]. While polarized light is vulnerable to
magneto-optic disturbance [3], the high-frequency γ-photon is
robust during penetration of the plasma depth [4]. Previously, the
celestial γ-ray emis- sion was observed to understand the
star-forming galax- ies [5], accretion flows around black holes
[6], and active galactic nuclei [7]. In contrast to the routinely
detected quantities of arrival time, direction, and energy, the γ-
photon polarization (GPP), provides new insights on the
relativistic jet geometry [8] and magnetic field configu- ration
[9], which allows to identify the cosmic neutrino scattering [10],
dark matter annihilation [11], and acceler- ation mechanisms
surrounding crab pulsars [12]. Whilst there has been progress in
the development of polarime- ters [13], further studies of GPP
originated from distant astronomical dynamics are hindered by the
need to per- form observation on artificial satellites [14]. In
this re- spect the modeling and simulation of the astrophysical GPP
in a laboratory would be indispensable.
This goal can be accomplished by using ultrarelativis- tic plasma
created in the cutting-edge laser facilities with the intensity of
1023 W/cm2 [15–17]. The later is not only favorable for examining
nonlinear quantum electro- dynamics [18–20], but also capable of
producing highly polarized γ-photons [21]. This energetic and
overdense state, associated with sufficiently strong fields
[22–24], radiative particle trapping [25, 26] and e−e+ pair cas-
cades [27–30], cannot be measured by the conventional techniques,
e.g. optical probes or charged particle radio- graphy [31–33].
Moreover, understanding of GPP phe- nomena in astrophysics would
need to relate it to the electron in situ transient dynamics.
This Letter aims to find the distinct relationship be- tween the
specific spatial-temporal features of the GPP and the time-resolved
motion of plasma electrons, and in this way deduce the dynamical
properties of plasma
and the regime of interaction. Using 3D particle-in-cell (PIC)
simulations, we investigate polarization-resolved γ-photon emission
in an ultrarelativistic plasma driven by a circularly polarized
laser pulse [Fig. 1]. The collec- tive orientation of the γ-photon
linear polarization (LP) resembles a spiral shape with the rotation
tendency de- termined by the acceleration status of the radiating
elec- trons. We define the spiral ratio, which quantifies the
degree of rotation tendency, and can serve as a diag- nostic to
gauge the transient acceleration gradient and self-generated
magnetic fields exerted on the radiating electrons. The inspection
of the angle dependence of the spiral ratio allows to distinguish
between different scenarios of the laser-plasma interaction.
Furthermore, the γ-photon circular polarization (CP), originated
from the accumulated longitudinal polarization of plasma elec-
trons, ascribed to the quantum electrodynamical (QED) radiative
spin-flips, is shown to provide a measure of the quantum
strong-field parameter of the electrons and of the susceptibility
of the ultrarelativistic plasma to QED processes.
When an electron interacts with a circularly polarized
electromagnetic wave A = a0e
iξey + εa0e i(ξ−π/2)ez with
the normalized field amplitude a0, ellipticity ε = 1, rel- ative
phase ξ = ω0t − k0x, and laser frequency ω0 = ck0, the electron
motion can be characterized by py ∼ a0mece
iξ, pz ∼ εa0mece i(ξ−π/2), y ∼ a0e
i(ξ−π/2)/Γk0, and z ∼ −εa0e
iξ/Γk0, with Γ ≡ γe − (px/mec) the dephasing value. The laser
fields are the dominating terms in governing the electron dynamics,
while the self- generated azimuthal magnetic fieldBφ = κb(−yez+zey)
sustained by the longitudinal current [34] is introduced as a
perturbation. The radially quasi-static electric field is neglected
due to the ion motion compensating the charge separation [35]. The
key parameter determining the polarized γ-photon emission and
electron radiative spin-flips is the strong-field invariant quantum
parame- ter χe,ph ≡ (e~/m3
ec 4)|Fµνpν | with the field tensor Fµν
and the momentum pν of the electron or photon, respec- tively. In
the moderate QED regime χe . 1, the direction
ar X
iv :2
11 1.
00 56
3v 1
1
2
FIG. 1. (a) The schematic for γ-photon emission from the plasma
(with y < 0 clipped) penetrated by a laser pulse, where the red
lines present typical electron trajectories. (b) The LP orientation
in the ideal condition. (c) The differ- ence δφ between a⊥ and aa.
The analytically predicted LP orientation for the electron
undergoing acceleration (d) and deceleration (e). (f) and (g) The
simulated γ-photon LP ori- entation, with the LP degree PLP and the
normalized number distribution dNph/ sin θdθdφ. (f) and (g) is for
the time at t = 10 and 40 fs, respectively.
of the emitted γ-photon LP is primarily parallel with the
acceleration direction perpendicular to the electron mo- mentum,
i.e. a⊥ ≡ a − (a · v)v, where the hat symbol denotes the unit
vector. The polarization orientation can be derived as
a⊥,y ≈− (1− cos θ) sin θ sinφ
ε − κb sin θ cos θ cosφ
εΓ
γe ,
a⊥,z ≈ ε(1− cos θ) sin θ cosφ+ εκb sin θ cos θ cosφ
Γ
γe ,
(1)
z) 1/2/px] the polar an-
gle and φ = arctan 2(pz, py) the azimuthal angle. In the ideal
condition that the terms of electron acceleration and plasma
self-generated fields are negligible, i.e. −β ·E = 0 and κb = 0,
the orientation of the γ-photon LP would be along the azimuthal
direction aa = (− sinφ, cosφ)
[Fig. 1(b)], which collectively resembles multiple concen- tric
rings with each polarization segment along the az- imuthal
direction. To characterize the deviation of the realistic
orientation a⊥ from the azimuthal one aa, we define the spiral
ratio R := (a⊥ × aa) · ex = sin δφ, where δφ ∈ [−90, 90] is the
relative angle between a⊥ and aa [Fig. 1(c)]. The spiral ratio can
be expressed as
R ≈ −β ·E√ [Γ + (γeκb cos θ/Γ)]
2 + (β ·E)2
. (2)
If the electron is undergoing acceleration with −β ·E > 0
(deceleration with −β · E < 0), the spiral ratio R > 0 (R
< 0) corresponds to the counter-clockwise (clockwise)
spiral tendency in the angular distribution of γ-photon LP
orientation as shown in Fig. 1(d) [Fig. 1(e)].
To examine the GPP features, we performed 3D PIC simulations, where
an over-critical density slab is illu- minated by a right-handed (ε
= 1) circularly polar- ized pulse. In the main example, the laser
intensity I0 ≈ 1.68 × 1023W/cm
2 is equivalent to the normalized
field amplitude a0 ≈ 350 for the wavelength λ0 = 1µm. The pulse has
a duration τ0 = 25 fs and focal spot size 2.6µm (FWHM intensity
measure). The slab has a thick- ness l0 = 10µm and consists of
electrons and carbon ions with the number density ne = 30nc and ni
= 5nc, respec- tively. nc = meω
2 0/4πe
2 is the plasma critical density. The models of radiative
spin-flips, spin-dependent pho- ton emission, and photon
polarization effects have been incorporated in the EPOCH code [36],
see the Supple- mental Materials [37].
Inside the laser-driven plasma channel, the electrons tend to form
a helical density structure [38], undergo betatron acceleration
[39], and radiate multi-MeV pho- tons [40]. The orientation of the
emitted γ-photon LP exhibits the counter-clockwise spiral tendency
[Fig. 1(f)] corresponding well with the analytical prediction for
the accelerating electron [Fig. 1(d)]. The angular averaged spiral
ratio is R ≈ 0.51 and the γ-photon LP degree PLP
close to 20%. If the low-energy photons are filtered out, the LP
degree can be improved to PLP ∼ 50%, compara- ble with the scheme
based on the Compton backscat- tering process [21]. The clockwise
spiral tendency in Fig. 1(g) indicates the deceleration of plasma
electrons happening at time t = 40 fs.
The time-resolved electron energy spectrum dNe/dεe [Fig. 2(a)]
demonstrates that the acceleration primarily takes place earlier at
t . 35 fs, whereas the deceleration occurs later at t & 35 fs.
Near the acceleration saturation time tεes ∼ 35 fs, the maximum
energy reaches 1 GeV. The time-resolved spiral ratio R(t)
explicitly correlates with the electron acceleration status, where
R > 0 (R < 0) corresponds to the electrons being
predominantly accel- erated (decelerated) [Fig. 2(b)]. As a
consequence, the moment of the spiral ratio changing sign, defined
as the reversal time tRs , should be equal to tεes .
To confirm the robustness of the notion of the rever- sal time tRs
for any regime of interaction, we study the same scenario with
varied laser intensity 150 6 a0 6 550 and plasma density 10 6 ne/nc
6 50. In the consid- ered first regime ne = 10nc, the pulse readily
penetrates through the plasma, and the electron acceleration termi-
nates when the pulse exits the slab’s rear surface. The saturation
time is estimated as ts,10nc ∼ l0/vg. In the second regime with ne
= 30nc, the acceleration satura- tion time is approximated when the
electron slides out of one laser period, i.e. ts,30nc
∼ λ0/(vph − vx). Here, vph ∼ c[1 − (ne/a0nc)]
1/2 (vg ∼ c[1 − (ne/a0nc)] −1/2) is
the group (phase) velocity of the pulse propagating in- side the
relativistically transparent plasma [41]. In the
3
FIG. 2. (a) The time evolution of electron energy spectra. (b) The
time evolution of R and the kinetic energy Ee of all elec- trons
(with γe > a0). (c) The dependence of tRs (circle) and tεes
(cross) on a0, where the lines denote the analytical esti- mation.
(d) The dependence of the simulated (grey bar) and analytically
derived (dashed line) R on εph, and the red line shows the photon
energy spectrum. (e) R(θ) obtained from the main PIC simulation
(circles) and the test particle simu- lation with κb = 0
(triangles), while the analytical prediction is illustrated by the
lines color-coded with κb. (f) θ∗(κb) ob- tained from simulations
(markers) and the numerical solution of ∂R(θ∗)/∂θ = 0 (lines). The
error bars in (c) and (f) are from the statistic uncertainties in
post processing.
third regime with ne = 50nc, the pulse bores a hole on the front
side of the overdense plasma and its termina- tion is determined by
the laser reflection time ts,50nc
∼ τ0/(1−βHB) ∼ τ0(1+Π1/2), where βHB ∼ Π1/2/(1+Π1/2) the hole
boring velocity and Π ∼ I0/(minic
3) the dimen- sionless piston parameter [42]. Even if the
mechanisms are distinct among the above three regimes with differ-
ent plasma density, the acceleration saturation time tεes is well
reproduced by the reversal time tRs [Fig. 2(c)]. Therefore, the
measurement of the reversal time tRs can allow to distinguish the
actual interaction regime. Given the parameter normalization, an
effect similar to the con- sidered one could be observed in the
astronomical sce- nario of a strong radio wave interacting with the
rare plasma background, where the time scale of the evolving R
would be prolonged to a µs level and could be identi- fied by the
observatories [43].
Otherwise, as the timing accuracy of ∼ 10 fs is still un- available
for the current γ-photon polarimetry, it is mean- ingful to
investigate the time-averaged spiral ratio R and its dependence on
the emission angle. A nontrivial peak of the spiral ratio at an
intermediate angle θ∗ is found [Fig. 2(e)], which can be calculated
from the analyti-
cal expression R(θ) ∼ (a0 sin θ)/{[Γ + (γeκb cos θ/Γ)] 2
+ (a0 sin θ)2}1/2, approximating −β ·E ∼ a0 sin θ, and as- suming a
nonvanishing plasma field κb 6= 0. The simu- lated R(θ) behaves as
a right-skewed distribution peaked at θ∗ ≈ 24, whereas the R(θ) of
a test particle simula- tion with κb = 0 is monotonically
decreasing with the rise
FIG. 3. (a) R(θ) obtained from simulations for three cases, whose
typical electron dynamics is illustrated in (c). (b) The angle
dependence of −β ·E calculated from the tracked elec- trons
(histograms) and R(θ) (lines), respectively. (c) The time evolution
of angle θ with blue-red color denoting −β ·E (determining the sign
of R), and γ-photon emissions marked by yellow circles. The green
lines show the evolution of γe.
of θ [Fig. 2(e)]. The peak position θ∗ is determined by the
gradient of self-generated magnetic field κb = ∂Bφ/∂r. Figure 2(f)
shows that the θ∗(κb) obtained from PIC sim- ulations corresponds
well with the numerical solution of θ∗(κb) (with the approximation
γe ∝ a0). Thus, the de- tected peak position θ∗ provides an
estimate for the ex- perimental gradient of the plasma magnetic
field. Addi- tionally, Fig. 2(f) illustrates that the functional
relation- ship θ∗(κb) clearly distinguishes the three regimes with
different plasma density discussed above.
Note that the spiral ratio is insensitive to the pho- ton energy
εph, as the estimation from Eq.(2) shows: R(εph) ∼
0.24(εph/mec
2)1/2/[η + (εph/mec 2)1/2], with
η ∼ 102, and the signal R is applicable for the majority of photons
since the photon distribution function expo- nentially decays at
high energies [Fig. 2(d)].
Even more detailed information on the electron dy- namics can be
deduced by closer inspection of the angle- resolved spiral ratio
R(θ). For instance, in the regime a0 = 350; ne = 30nc the spiral
ratio R(θ) > 0 holds over the whole range of angle θ [Fig.
3(a)], when the laser field is phase matched to the betatron
oscillations and the electrons are efficiently accelerated [38,
39]. The rep- resentative time evolution of an electron’s angle θ
con- firms the acceleration dominance over the deceleration [Fig.
3(c)]. A different scenario is seen in the regime a0 = 150; ne =
30nc, when the spiral ratio R(θ) is neg- ative at θ . 40. This
highlights a typical electron dy- namics, where acceleration takes
place at a relative large angles 40 < θ, while the deceleration
at small angles θ . 40. Conversely, in the case a0 = 150; ne = 1nc,
the electron tends to be accelerated at a collimated direction
while decelerated at a large divergent angle. Based on Eq. (2), the
acceleration gradient can be expressed as −β ·E ∼ sign(R)[Γ+κb cos
θ(1−cos θ)−1]/(R−2−1)1/2, which is approximately ∼ 30mecω0/|e| ≈
1014 V/m. The angle dependent spiral ratio R(θ) correlated with the
electron acceleration gradient [Fig. 3(b)] could be applied to
explore the new interaction mechanisms with higher
4
FIG. 4. (a) The angular dependent γ-photon CP degree PCP
(histograms) and photon number distribution dNph/dθ (lines). (b)
The electron energy density V = εene, and the distributions of
electron spin polarization sx, sy, and sz. The dependence of (c) χe
and (d) PCP on a0. (e) The cor- relation between PCP and χe. The
lines in (c)(d)(e) present the analytical estimation. The inset in
(d) and (e) zooms in on the shadow region. (f) The number
distribution of energetic electrons Ne versus χe, Eeff , and
γe.
acceleration efficiency and collimated photon emission.
Apart from the LP, the emitted γ-photons can be par- tially
circularly polarized [Fig. 4(a)]. In strong fields a0 1, the photon
formation length lf ∼ c/a0ω0 is much less than the laser wavelength
[18] and during a photon emission the electron does not experience
the entire ro- tating structure of the laser field. Consequently,
the CP of γ-photons cannot be inherited from the spin angu- lar
momentum of the driving pulse. It rather originates from the spin
of polarized plasma electrons. The latter is caused by the
radiative spin flips, which are governed by the QED quantum
strong-field parameter χe. Thus, the CP of emitted γ-photons can be
a characteristic of the QED properties of the laser-driven
plasma.
The electron radiative spin flip is described by the equation
dsR/dt ≈ (
√ 3αfmec
2/2π~γe)χeA∗(χe)b⊥ [37], where A∗(χe) ≈ 0.2χe (at 0.01 < χe <
0.4) [44], αf the fine structure constant, χe ∼ γeEeff/Es, γe ∼ a0
the Lorentz factor, Eeff ≈ a0(1−cos θ)mecω0/|e| the effective
field, Es = m2 ec
3/(|e|~) the Schwinger field, and b⊥ the unit vector transverse to
the magnetic field in the labora- tory frame. The latter is along
the transverse momentum direction p⊥, because py,z/mec ∼
|e|By,z/meω0. Consid-
ering the component of b⊥ along the x-axis, the net lon- gitudinal
electron spin polarization is negative sx < 0 [Fig. 4(b)],
leading to a negative CP degree PCP of the emitted γ-photons. As
the divergence angle can be esti- mated as θ ∼ (Bφ/a0)1/2, through
the balance between the transverse electric and magnetic forces
[45], the in- variant parameter could be reformulated as χe ∼ ρa0,
with ρ ≈ Bφ~ω0/(2mec
2) ∼ 10−4. At χe . 0.1, the
FIG. 5. (a) The interaction scheme of a nanowire array irradi- ated
by a strong laser field. (b) The longitudinal current den- sity jx,
where the arrow lines denote the jy,z and Ja = 17kA the Alfven
current limit. The solid line represents a typical electron
evolution in (b) the transverse coordinate, (c) px vs x, and (d) χe
(dsR/dt) vs t, where the yellow circles refer to emitted backward
γ-photons with εph > 10MeV
γ-photon CP degree can be calculated as [37]
PCP ∼ χph(2χe − χph)
(s · β), (3)
and the longitudinal electron spin polarization is derived as s · β
∼ −(αfmec
2/h)(χ2 e/γe). Taking into account
that the photon emission probability is peaked at χph ∼ χ2 e (for
χe 1), we obtain the CP degree as PCP ∼ −(αfmec
2/h)ρ3a2 0. Then, the plasma QED degree χe
can be retrieved through the γ-photon CP degree PCP: χe ∼
102(~ω0/2παfmec
2)1/2|PCP|1/2. As illustrated in Figs. 4(c)(d)(e), the analytically
derived relation agrees reasonably with the PIC simulation
results.
In the above setup, the QED parameter is moderate for the averaged
value of energetic electrons: χe ≈ 0.05 [Fig. 4(f)]. Higher
χe-parameters can be reached in ultrahigh-energy-density states
sustained by a strong pulse interaction with nanowire arrays [46].
We analyzed the electron spin polarization and γ-photon CP in such
a scenario [Fig. 5(a)] [37]. Here, the electrons, replenished by
the return current within the interior of the nanorods [Fig. 5(b)],
are prone to backscattering with the colliding pulse at a large
angle θ [Fig. 5(c)(d)]. The QED param- eter is improved to χe ∼
0.13 due to the enhancement of the effective field Eeff , rather
than electron energy γe [Fig. 4(f)]. With the rise of χe, the
γ-photon CP de- gree is improved from PCP ≈ −0.4% to −3.2%. The
higher PCP correlated with the large angle scattering pro- cess
helps distinguish the interaction scenarios associated with the
violent plasma return current [47].
Concluding, we demonstrate that the polarization properties of
γ-photons emitted from the energetic plasma driven by a circularly
polarized laser pulse pro- vide extra degrees of freedom of
information on the tran- sient electron acceleration dynamics,
self-generated mag- netic fields, plasma QED status, and on the
regimes of laser-plasma interaction. This information will help in
better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of observed
phenomena in broad high-intensity interac- tion scenarios including
ion acceleration [48–51], elec-
5
tron direct acceleration [39], high-harmonic genera- tion [52, 53],
brilliant photon emission [54], ultradense nanopinches [55], and
e−e+ pair plasma cascades [56]. For astrophysics aspects, our
results indicate that the γ-photon LP orientation modulated by the
particle ac- celeration gradient is potentially connected to the
cor- relation between the observed GPP and universe mag- netic
fields [9]. Besides, the extra γ-photon CP degree originated from
spin-polarized plasma electrons appears attractive to be explored
for influence on dark matter annihilation [11] and cosmic neutron
scattering proce- dure [10].
The PIC code EPOCH is funded by the UK EPSRC grants EP/G054950/1,
EP/G056803/1, EP/G055165/1 and EP/ M022463/1. Z. G. would like to
thank Pei-Lun He for fruitful discussions. The Supplemental
Material includes Refs. [57–65].
∗ gong@mpi-hd.mpg.de † k.hatsagortsyan@mpi-hd.mpg.de
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Deciphering in situ electron dynamics of ultrarelativistic plasma
via polarization pattern of emitted -photons
Abstract
References