Radiation reaction measurements via single-shot energy-loss determination in high-intensity laser-electron collisions

Abstract

Effects of radiation reaction are considered a key factor for lasers-plasma-interactions at ultra-high intensities, and gaining precise understanding of these phenomena will be crucical for discoveries of novel strong-field QED effects. In this paper we investigate an experimental geometry that allows a direct single-shot measurement of radiation reaction energy losses in high-intensity laser-beam collisions. This is made possible by simultaneous measurements of the pre-collision and post-collision electron beam spectra in a single shot by employing a dedicated 90-degree scattering geometry between the electron beam and the colliding high-power laser. We discuss the principal requirements and design constraints, e.g. for the electron beam divergence and source size. We derive an analytic expression for the correlation between the final particle energy and the scattering angle. Numerical simulations are performed employing both classical and stochastic quantum radiation reaction models to predict the experimental outcome and demonstrate the feasibility of the scenario.