Highly efficient laser-driven Compton gamma-ray source

Abstract

The recent advancement of high-intensity lasers has made all-optical Compton scattering become a promising way to produce ultra-short brilliant $γ$-rays in an ultra-compact system. However, so far achieved Compton $γ$-ray sources are severely limited by low conversion efficiency (lower than $10^{-5}$) and spectral intensity ($\sim10^{4}$ ${\rm photons/0.1\%BW}$). Here we present a highly efficient gamma photon emitter obtained by irradiating a high-intensity laser pulse on a miniature plasma device consisting of a plasma lens and a plasma mirror. This concept exploits strong spatiotemporal laser-shaping process and high-charge electron acceleration process in the plasma lens, as well as an efficient nonlinear Compton scattering process enabled by the plasma mirror. Our particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that in this novel scheme, brilliant $γ$-rays with very high conversion efficiency (higher than $10^{-2}$) and spectral intensity ($\sim10^{9}$ ${\rm photons/0.1\%BW}$) can be achieved by employing currently available petawatt-class lasers with intensity of $10^{21}$ ${\rm W/cm^2}$. Such efficient and intense $γ$-ray sources would find applications in wide-ranging areas.