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arXiv · 1605.00822

Radiative trapping in intense laser beams

J. G. Kirk
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Abstract

The dynamics of electrons in counter-propagating, circularly polarized laser beams are shown to exhibit attractors whose ability to trap particles depends on the ratio of the beam intensities and a single parameter describing radiation reaction. Analytical expressions are found for the underlying limit cycles and the parameter range in which they are stable. In high-intensity optical pulses, where radiation reaction strongly modifies the trajectories, the production of collimated gamma-rays and the initiation of non-linear cascades of electron-positron pairs can be optimized by a suitable choice of the intensity ratio.

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J. G. Kirk. 2016-07-08. Radiative trapping in intense laser beams. https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335%2F58%2F8%2F085005

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