arXiv subjects

Yan-Fei Li

Publications and source records attributed to Yan-Fei Li.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Photon Orbital Angular Momentum Control by Electron Wavepackets in Nonlinear Compton Scattering

Photon orbital angular momentum (OAM) generated in nonlinear Compton scattering has attracted considerable interest as a route toward vortex $\gamma$-ray sources. Existing theories describe photon OAM primarily through angular-momentum transfer involving structured incident particles and laser fields, while the role of electron-wavepacket has remained unexplored. Here, we develop a general analytical theory of nonlinear Compton scattering for arbitrarily shaped electron wave packets and demonstrate that the Fourier spectrum of the transverse electron wave packet directly determines the OAM spectrum of the emitted photons through a generalized angular-momentum selection rule. Our theory unifies Gaussian wave packets, vortex electrons, and arbitrarily shaped electron states within a single framework, revealing the transverse Fourier structure of electron wave packets as a fundamental degree of freedom governing photon orbital angular momentum and enabling deterministic engineering of photon OAM distributions.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2026

Probing vacuum birefringence in an Ultrastrong Laser Field via High-energy Gamma-ray Polarimetry

Vacuum birefringence (VB), a fundamental prediction of nonlinear quantum electrodynamics (QED), has eluded direct laboratory detection due to its extreme weakness. We propose a compact, "self-probing" scheme where a GeV electron beam collides head-on with a petawatt laser pulse. Circularly polarized gamma-ray photons, generated via nonlinear Compton scattering in the same pulse, then probe the birefringent vacuum it induces. This integrated design bypasses the stringent synchronization and beam transport requirements of traditional pump-probe setups. Our nonperturbative strong-field QED simulations reveal a clear VB signature: conversion of circular to linear polarization, with the induced Stokes parameter $S_1$ reaching ~0.019 within the selected angular range. This corresponds to a refractive index difference $\Delta n = 1.829 \times 10^{-4}$ over micron-scale paths, directly measurable as a high-contrast "X-shape" asymmetry in $e^+e^-$ pair distributions. The scheme provides a feasible path to first laboratory VB detection with current laser and accelerator technologies.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2025

All-Optical Generation of Dense, Multi-GeV, Longitudinally-Polarized Positron Beams

The production of high-yield, longitudinally polarized positron beams represents an outstanding challenge in advanced accelerator science. Laser-driven schemes offer a compact alternative but typically yield only transverse polarization, or require pre-polarized electron beams, and struggle to efficiently accelerate positrons to high energies. Here, we introduce an all-optical scheme that overcomes these limitations by integrating positron generation, acceleration, and spin manipulation in a unified framework. Through a head-on collision between an ultraintense, circularly polarized laser pulse and a counterpropagating unpolarized electron beam, we drive a robust QED cascade. The nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process within the cascade produces positrons that are born directly within the strong laser field. Crucially, these positrons are instantaneously captured and accelerated to multi-GeV energies (up to $\sim$9 GeV) via a direct laser acceleration mechanism, while their spins are simultaneously rotated to longitudinal alignment by the field dynamics. Our Monte-Carlo simulations confirm the simultaneous achievement of a high positron yield ($\sim$20 $e^+/e^-$), a high average longitudinal polarization ($\sim$50\%), and GeV-scale energies. This all-optical source, feasible at upcoming ultraintense laser facilities, presents a compact and efficient solution for applications in collider physics and fundamental high-energy experiments.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2024

Achieving High Polarization of Photons Emitted by Unpolarized Electrons in Ultrastrong Laser Fields

Nonlinear Compton scattering driven by ultraintense lasers presents a promising avenue for enhancing the photon energy, brilliance, and setup compactness of $γ$-ray sources. However, a significant challenge lies in achieving a high polarization degree with commonly generated unpolarized electrons, thus addressing a longstanding puzzle in the field. Here we investigate the polarization dynamics of photons emitted by an unpolarized electron beam interacting with a counter-propagating ultraintense laser pulse numerically, and propose a novel method to generate highly polarized $γ$ rays via nonlinear Compton scattering with the aid of vacuum dichroism effect. Our simulations reveal that high-brilliance $γ$ rays with polarization beyond 90\% are feasible in a single-shot interaction, rivaling the highest achieved by any $γ$-ray sources to date, based on a developed Monte Carlo method incorporating polarization-resolved tree processes of nonlinear Compton scattering and Breit-Wheeler pair production and one-loop vacuum polarization. This generation method showcases an extraordinary ultra-high polarization degree and a user-friendly all-optical experimental setup, while harnessing the high photon energy and brilliance characteristic of nonlinear Compton scattering sources, thus making it of great potential for experimental applications.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Laser-driven lepton polarization in the quantum radiation-dominated reflection regime

Generation of ultrarelativistic polarized leptons during interaction of an ultrarelativistic electron beam with a counterpropagating ultraintense laser pulse is investigated in the quantum radiation-dominated domain. While the symmetry of the laser field tends to average the radiative polarization of leptons to zero, we demonstrate the feasibility of sizable radiative polarization through breaking the symmetry of the process in the reflection regime. After the reflection, the off-axis particles escape the tightly focused beam with polarization correlated to the emission angle, while the particles at the beam center are more likely to be captured in the laser field with unmatched polarization and kinetic motion. Meanwhile, polarization along the electric field emerges due to the spin rotation in the transverse plane via precession. In this way, the combined effects of radiative polarization, spin precession and the laser field focusing are shaping the angle-dependent polarization for outgoing leptons. Our spin-resolved Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate an angle-dependent polarization degree up to $\sim20\%$ for both electrons and positrons, with a yield of one pair per seed electron. It provides a new approach for producing polarized high density electron and positron jets at ultraintense laser facilities.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Strong signature of one-loop self-energy in polarization resolved nonlinear Compton scattering

The polarization dynamics of electrons including multiple nonlinear Compton scattering during the interaction of a circularly-polarized ultraintense laser pulse with a counterpropagating ultrarelativistic electron beam is investigated. While electron polarization emerges mostly due to spin-flips at photon emissions, there is a non-radiative contribution to the polarization which stems from the one-loop QED radiative corrections to the self-energy, which admits of a simple physical model. We put forward a method to single out the non-radiative contribution to the polarization, employing the reflection regime of the interaction when the radiation reaction is significant. The polarization of electrons that penetrate in the forward direction through a colliding laser is shown to be dominated by the loop effect, while the reflected electrons are mostly polarized by spin-flips at photon emissions. We confirm this effect by quantum Monte Carlo simulations considering the helicity transfer from the laser field to the electrons, taking into account the opposite sign of the polarizations induced by the non-radiative loop effect and radiative spin-flip. Our Monte Carlo simulations show a polarization signal as high as $\gtrsim 10\%$ from the non-radiative effect, amenable for experimental detection with current technology.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2022

Helicity transfer in strong laser fields via the electron anomalous magnetic moment

Electron beam longitudinal polarization during the interaction with counterpropagating circularly-polarized ultraintense laser pulses is investigated, while accounting for the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron. Although it is known that the helicity transfer from the laser photons to the electron beam is suppressed in linear and nonlinear Compton scattering processes, we show that the helicity transfer nevertheless can happen via an intermediate step of the electron radiative transverse polarization, phase-matched with the driving field, followed up by spin rotation into the longitudinal direction as induced by the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron. With spin-resolved QED Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate the consequent helicity transfer from laser photons to the electron beam with a degree up to 10%, along with an electron radial polarization up to 65% after multiple photon emissions in a femtosecond timescale. This effect is detectable with currently achievable laser facilities, evidencing the role of the leading QED vertex correction to the electron anomalous magnetic moment in the polarization dynamics in ultrastrong laser fields.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2021

Spin and polarization effects on the nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production in laser-plasma interaction

The spin effect of electrons/positrons ($e^-$/$e^+$) and polarization effect of $γ$ photons are investigated in the interaction of two counter-propagating linearly polarized 10-PW-class laser pulses with a thin foil target. The processes of nonlinear Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production based on spin- and polarization-resolved probabilities are implemented into the particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithm by Monte Carlo methods. It is found from PIC simulations that the average degree of linear polarization of emitted $γ$ photons can exceed $50\%$. This polarization effect leads to reduced positron yield by about $10\%$. At some medium positron energies, the reduction can reach $20\%$. Furthermore, we also observe that the local spin polarization of $e^-$/$e^+$ leads to a slight decrease of the positron yield about $2\%$ and some anomalous phenomena about the positron spectrum and photon polarization at the high-energy range, due to spin-dependent photon emissions. Our results indicate that spin and polarization effects should be considered in calculating the pair production and laser-plasma interaction with the laser power of 10-PW class.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantum-stochasticity-induced asymmetry in angular distribution of electrons in a quasi-classical regime

Impacts of quantum stochasticity on the dynamics of an ultra-relativistic electron beam head-on colliding with a linearly polarized ultra-intense laser pulse are theoretically investigated in a quasi-classical regime. Generally, the angular distribution of the electron beam keeps symmetrically in transverse directions in this regime, even under the ponderomotive force of the laser pulse. Here we show that when the initial angular divergence $Δθ_i \lesssim 10^{-6} a_0^2$ with $a_0$ being the normalized laser field amplitude, an asymmetric angular distribution of the electron beam arises due to the quantum stochasticity effect, via simulations employing Landau-Lifshitz, quantum-modified Landau-Lifshitz equations, and quantum stochastic radiation reaction form to describe the radiative electron dynamics respectively. The asymmetry is robust against a variety of laser and electron parameters, providing an experimentally detectable signature for the nature of quantum stochasticity of photon emission with laser and electron beams currently available.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Production of Highly Polarized Positron Beams via Helicity Transfer from Polarized Electrons in a Strong Laser Field

The production of a highly-polarized positron beam via nonlinear Breit-Wheeler processes during the interaction of an ultraintense circularly polarized laser pulse with a longitudinally spin-polarized ultrarelativistic electron beam is investigated theoretically. A new Monte Carlo method employing fully spin-resolved quantum probabilities is developed under the local constant field approximation to include three-dimensional polarizations effects in strong laser fields. The produced positrons are longitudinally polarized through polarization transferred from the polarized electrons by the medium of high-energy photons. The polarization transfer efficiency can approach 100\% for the energetic positrons moving at smaller deflection angles. This method simplifies the post-selection procedure to generate high-quality positrons in further applications. In a feasible scenario, a highly polarized ($40\%-65\%$), intense ($10^5$/bunch$-10^6 $/bunch), collimated ($5$mrad$-70$ mrad) positron beam can be obtained in a femtosecond timescale. The longitudinally polarized positron sources are desirable for applications in high-energy physics and material science .

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Polarized ultrashort brilliant multi-GeV $γ$-rays via single-shot laser-electron interaction

Generation of circularly-polarized (CP) and linearly-polarized (LP) $γ$-rays via the single-shot interaction of an ultraintense laser pulse with a spin-polarized counterpropagating ultrarelativistic electron beam has been investigated in nonlinear Compton scattering in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. For the process simulation a Monte Carlo method is developed which employs the electron-spin-resolved probabilities for polarized photon emissions. We show efficient ways for the transfer of the electron polarization to the high-energy photon polarization. In particular, multi-GeV CP (LP) $γ$-rays with polarization of up to about 95\% can be generated by a longitudinally (transversely) spin-polarized electron beam, with a photon flux at a single shot meeting the requirements of recent proposals for the vacuum birefringence measurement in ultrastrong laser fields. Such high-energy, high-brilliance, high-polarization $γ$-rays are also beneficial for other applications in high-energy physics, nuclear physics, and laboratory astrophysics.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Ultrarelativistic polarized positron jets via collision of electron and ultraintense laser beams

Relativistic spin-polarized positron beams are indispensable for future electron-positron colliders to test modern high-energy physics theory with high precision. However, present techniques require very large scale facilities for those experiments. We put forward a novel efficient way for generating ultrarelativistic polarized positron beams employing currently available laser fields. For this purpose the generation of polarized positrons via multiphoton Breit-Wheeler pair production and the associated spin dynamics in single-shot interaction of an ultraintense laser pulse with an ultrarelativistic electron beam is investigated in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. A specifically tailored small ellipticity of the laser field is shown to promote splitting of the polarized particles along the minor axis of laser polarization into two oppositely polarized beams. In spite of radiative de-polarization, a dense positron beam with up to about 90\% polarization can be generated in tens of femtoseconds. The method may eventually usher high-energy physics studies into smaller-scale laser laboratories.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Spin-polarization effects of an ultrarelativistic electron beam in an ultraintense two-color laser pulse

Spin-polarization effects of an ultrarelativistic electron beam head-on colliding with an ultraintense two-color laser pulse are investigated comprehensively in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. We employ a Monte Carlo method, derived from the recent work of [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 122}, 154801 (2019)], to calculate the spin-resolved electron dynamics and photon emissions in the local constant field approximation. We find that electron radiation probabilities in adjacent half cycles of a two-color laser field are substantially asymmetric due to the asymmetric field strengths, and consequently, after interaction the electron beam can obtain a total polarization of about 11\% and a partial polarization of up to about 63\% because of radiative spin effects, with currently achievable laser facilities, which may be utilized in high-energy physics and nuclear physics. Moreover, the considered effects are shown to be crucially determined by the relative phase of the two-color laser field and robust with respect to other laser and electron beam parameters.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Single-shot determination of spin-polarization for ultrarelativistic electron beams via nonlinear Compton scattering

Impacts of spin-polarization of an ultrarelativistic electron beam head-on colliding with a strong laser pulse on emitted photon spectra and electron dynamics have been investigated in the quantum radiation regime. We simulate photon emissions quantum mechanically and electron dynamics semiclassically via taking spin-resolved radiation probabilities in the local constant field approximation. A small ellipticity of the laser field brings about an asymmetry in angle-resolved photon spectrum, which sensitively relies on the polarization of the electron beam. The asymmetry is particularly significant in high-energy photon spectra, and is employed for the polarization detection of a high-energy electron beam with extraordinary precision, e.g., better than 0.3\% for a few-GeV electron beam at a density of the scale of $10^{16}$ cm$^{-3}$ with currently available strong laser fields. This method demonstrates for the first time a way of single-shot determination of polarization for ultrarelativistic electron beams via nonlinear Compton scattering. A similar method based on the asymmetry in the electron momentum distribution after the interaction due to spin-dependent radiation reaction is proposed as well.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Ultrarelativistic electron beam polarization in single-shot interaction with an ultraintense laser pulse

Spin-polarization of an ultrarelativistic electron beam head-on colliding with an ultraintense laser pulse is investigated in the quantum radiation-reaction regime. We develop a Monte-Carlo method to model electron radiative spin effects in arbitrary electromagnetic fields by employing spin-resolved radiation probabilities in the local constant field approximation. Due to spin-dependent radiation reaction, the applied elliptically polarized laser pulse polarizes the initially unpolarized electron beam and splits it along the propagation direction into two oppositely transversely polarized parts with a splitting angle of about tens of milliradians. Thus, a dense electron beam with above 70\% polarization can be generated in tens of femtoseconds. The proposed method demonstrates a way for relativistic electron beam polarization with currently achievable laser facilities.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Electron-Angular-Distribution Reshaping in Quantum Radiation-Dominated Regime

Dynamics of an electron beam head-on colliding with an ultraintense focused ultrashort circularly-polarized laser pulse are investigated in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. Generally, the ponderomotive force of the laser fields may deflect the electrons transversely, to form a ring structure on the cross-section of the electron beam. However, we find that when the Lorentz factor of the electron $γ$ is approximately one order of magnitude larger than the invariant laser field parameter $ξ$, the stochastic nature of the photon emission leads to electron aggregation abnormally inwards to the propagation axis of the laser pulse. Consequently, the electron angular distribution after the interaction exhibits a peak structure in the beam propagation direction, which is apparently distinguished from the "ring"-structure of the distribution in the classical regime, and therefore, can be recognized as a proof of the fundamental quantum stochastic nature of radiation. The stochasticity signature is robust with respect to the laser and electron parameters and observable with current experimental techniques.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Determining Carrier-Envelope Phase of Relativistic Laser Pulses via Electron Momentum Distribution

The impacts of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of a long relativistic tightly-focused laser pulse on the dynamics of a counter-propagating electron beam have been investigated in the, so-called, electron reflection regime, requiring the Lorentz factor of the electron $γ$ to be approximately two orders of magnitudes lower than the dimensionless laser field parameter $ξ$. The electrons are reflected at the rising edge of the laser pulse due to the ponderomotive force of the focused laser beam, and an asymmetric electron angular distribution emerges along the laser polarization direction, which sensitively depends on the CEP of the driving laser pulse for weak radiative stochastic effects. The CEP siganatures are observable at laser intensities of the order or larger than $10^{19}$ W/cm$^2$ and the pulse duration up to 10 cycles. The CEP detection resolution is proportional to the electron beam density and can achieve approximately $0.1^{\circ}$ at an electron density of about $10^{15}$ cm$^{-3}$. The method is applicable for currently available ultraintense laser facilities with the laser peak power from tens of terawatt to multi-petawatt region.

physics.optics↗