Bright polarised x-ray flashes from dense plasmas

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Qian, Q., Ridgers, C. P., Bulanov, S. V., Grismayer, T., Hadjisolomou, P., Seipt, D., Vranic, M., Thomas, A. G. R.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Qian, Q.
Ridgers, C. P.
Bulanov, S. V.
Grismayer, T.
Hadjisolomou, P.
Seipt, D.
Vranic, M.
Thomas, A. G. R.
author_facet Qian, Q.
Ridgers, C. P.
Bulanov, S. V.
Grismayer, T.
Hadjisolomou, P.
Seipt, D.
Vranic, M.
Thomas, A. G. R.
contents Creating a plasma dominated by strong-field QED (SFQED) effects is a major goal of new multi-PW laser facilities. This is motivated by the fact that the fundamental dynamics of such plasmas is poorly understood and plays an important role in the electrodynamics of extreme astrophysical environments such as pulsar magnetospheres. The most obvious observable for which such a regime has been reached is the production of a bright flash of x-rays, but distinguishing this from other sources of hard x-rays (e.g., bremsstrahlung) is a major challenge. Here we show that the photons from the X-ray flash are highly polarised, as compared to the unpolarised background, i.e., polarisation is an indicator that the SFQED plasma has really produced. For a laser of intensity $10^{21}$ Wcm$^{-2}$ impinging on a solid Al target, the photons of the flash with energy $>10$\thinspace keV are $>65\%$ polarised.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_18078
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bright polarised x-ray flashes from dense plasmas
Qian, Q.
Ridgers, C. P.
Bulanov, S. V.
Grismayer, T.
Hadjisolomou, P.
Seipt, D.
Vranic, M.
Thomas, A. G. R.
Plasma Physics
Creating a plasma dominated by strong-field QED (SFQED) effects is a major goal of new multi-PW laser facilities. This is motivated by the fact that the fundamental dynamics of such plasmas is poorly understood and plays an important role in the electrodynamics of extreme astrophysical environments such as pulsar magnetospheres. The most obvious observable for which such a regime has been reached is the production of a bright flash of x-rays, but distinguishing this from other sources of hard x-rays (e.g., bremsstrahlung) is a major challenge. Here we show that the photons from the X-ray flash are highly polarised, as compared to the unpolarised background, i.e., polarisation is an indicator that the SFQED plasma has really produced. For a laser of intensity $10^{21}$ Wcm$^{-2}$ impinging on a solid Al target, the photons of the flash with energy $>10$\thinspace keV are $>65\%$ polarised.
title Bright polarised x-ray flashes from dense plasmas
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.18078