Pair creation in collision of $\gamma$--ray beams produced with high intensity lasers

Abstract

Direct production of electron--positron pairs in two photon collisions, the Breit--Wheeler process, is one of the basic processes in the Universe. However, it has never been observed in laboratory because of absence of the intense gamma-ray sources. Laser induced synchrotron sources emission may open for the first time a way to observe this process. A feasibility of an experimental set--up using a MeV photon source is studied in this paper. We compare several $\gamma$--ray sources, estimate the expected number of electron--positron pairs and competing processes by using numerical simulations including quantum electrodynamic effects.