Perspective of creating relativistic electron-positron pair jets and plasmas using multi-petawatt lasers*

The state-of-art lasers with intensity of 5x10¹⁸ - 10²¹ W/cm² are now the brightest source of relativistic electron-positron pair jets in the laboratory. Using femtosecond to picosecond lasers with energies from 10 - 2000 J, up to 10¹² highly relativistic pairs are routinely produced together with high energy gamma photons and ions.  The jets of electrons and positrons can be focused and manipulated to form a relativistic “antimatter” pair plasma – a unique state of matter which only exist naturally in astrophysical objects. If they are dense enough with sufficient volume and lifetime, these laser-generated pair plasmas can be exploited for laboratory experiments mimicking physical processes in various astrophysical systems including Gamma Ray Bursts [1]. This talk will highlight the experimental results to date and discuss the prospects in this research area using upcoming multi-petawatt lasers.

[1]. Chen & Fiuza, Phys. Plasmas 30, 020601 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0134819