High average flux positron sources driven by a mJ-class laser

Abstract

We report on the production and characterisation of MeV-scale positron populations driven by a high-repetition-rate, mJ-class laser system. The positrons are generated via a two-step Bethe--Heitler process driven by laser-wakefield-accelerated electron beams propagating through a mm-scale lead converter. At 10 Hz, approximately 1000 positrons in the 0.8--1.7 MeV energy range were measured over 100 accumulated shots. Stable electron acceleration was demonstrated at 10 Hz, 100 Hz, and 1 kHz using approximately 9 mJ of laser energy in the focal spot, indicating the potential for substantially higher average positron fluxes for laser systems operating at kHz repetition rates and energies of 10s of mJ. Such a positron source allows generating sufficiently high average fluxes of MeV-scale positrons while maintaining low positron yields per pulse and narrow temporal distributions, a regime of particular interest for novel applications in material science and fundamental physics. The measured positron yields and spectra are in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations, supporting the modelling of the positron-production process and magnetic transport system.