The 6th International Conference on Matter and Radiation at Extremes (ICMRE2023)

Recently, we proposed a novel laser-plasma interaction geometry, called “peeler” regime, where an intense laser pulse impinges on an edge of a solid tape target [1,2]. Through this regime, we have demonstrated the generation of high-flux superponderomotive collimated electrons and more  importantly, hundred MeV monoenergetic proton beams with energy spread at the percent level via three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Here, we further investigate the generation and

acceleration of dense positron beams with ultraintense lasers.

High-energy dense positrons have diverse applications in science, medicine and engineers. Ultraintense  laser-plasma interactions represent a promising approach to create dense positrons and further accelerate them. However, until now, how to generate and accelerate dense positrons to high energy in  a simple setup remains an open question. By using multidimensional PIC simulations, we demonstrate that by irradiating an edge of a microtape with an ultraintense laser pulse, a significant amount of positrons can be produced at the front edge, further injected into the accelerating phase of the surface plasma wave, and finally be accelerated to several GeV within tens of micrometers. This regime may pave the way for compact positron accelerators and electron-positron colliders.