Numerical studies on pair production in ultra-intense laser interaction with a thin solid-foil

A theoretical and numerical model of photon and electron–positron pair production in strong-field quantum electrodynamics (QED) is described. Two processes are contained in our QED theoretical model, one is photon emission in the interaction of ultra-intense laser with relativistic electron (or positron), and the other is pair production by a gamma-ray photon interacting with the laser field. This model has been included in a PIC/MCC simulation code named BUMBLEBEE 1D, which is used to simulate the laser plasma interaction. Using this code, the evolutions of electron–positron pair and gamma-ray photon production in ultra-intense laser interaction with aluminum foil target are simulated and analyzed. The simulation results revealed that more positrons are moved in the opposite direction to the incident direction of the laser under the charge separation field.