Ultrarelativistic polarized positron jets via collision of electron and ultraintense laser beams

Abstract

Relativistic spin-polarized positron beams are indispensable for future electron-positron colliders to test modern high-energy physics theory with high precision. However, present techniques require very large scale facilities for those experiments. We put forward a novel efficient method for generating ultrarelativistic polarized positron beams employing currently available laser fields. For this purpose, the generation of polarized positrons via multiphoton Breit-Wheeler pair production and the associated spin dynamics in single-shot interaction of an ultraintense laser pulse with an ultrarelativistic electron beam is investigated in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. The pair production spin asymmetry in strong fields, significantly exceeding the asymmetry of the radiative polarization, produces locally highly polarized particles, which are split by a specifically tailored small ellipticity of the laser field into two oppositely polarized beams along the minor axis of laser polarization. In spite of radiative de-polarization, a dense positron beam with up to about 90% polarization can be generated in tens of femtoseconds. The method may eventually usher high-energy physics studies into smaller-scale laser laboratories. Keywords: Strong field QED, Polarized positrons, Multiphoton Breit-Wheeler pair production, Nonlinear Compton scattering