Radiation Reaction of Electrons at Laser Intensities up to 10 Xilin Zhou

Recent developments in high-power laser technology allowing for laser intensities from 10 22 W/cm 2 up to 10 24 W/cm 2 have opened up the study of the super-intense laser acceleration of electrons to tens of GeV energies. These intensities may be attainable in the next generation of super-powerful lasers such as EP-OPAL, a proposed extension of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics OMEGA EP Laser System which can potentially reach laser intensities as high as 10 24 W/cm 2. Previous work on this subject did not account for the radiation reaction force, which is the recoil force caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by an accelerating charged particle. In this work, two possible scenarios (an electron originally bound in a highly charged ion, and a counter-propagating 1-GeV electron pulse) were tested. The first scenario, involving the highly charged ion, showed little difference between simulations with and without the radiation reaction force. However, the second scenario, involving the counter-propagating 1-GeV electron pulse, showed the electrons losing significant amounts of energy when the radiation reaction force was accounted for. If harnessed, this radiated energy could be applied in medical and other research fields. Future studies will look into the spectrum and power of the radiated energy.