Deciphering in situ electron dynamics of ultrarelativistic plasma via polarization pattern of emitted γ-photons

Abstract

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 method, harnessing polarization properties of γ-photons emitted from a non-prepolarized plasma irradiated by a circularly polarized pulse. We show that the angular pattern of γ-photon linear polarization is explicitly correlated with the dynamics of the radiating electrons, which provides information on the laser-plasma interaction regime. Furthermore, with the γ-photon circular polarization originating 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 can be a versatile information source, which would be beneficial for the research fields of laser-driven plasma, accelerator science, and laboratory astrophysics.