An international team of physicists with the participation of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has proposed a new concept with which extreme processes, such as those that occur in neutron stars or black holes, could be studied in the laboratory in future. The basis of the new concept would be a tiny block of plastic with micrometer-fine channels running through it.
It acts as a target for two lasers. These simultaneously fire ultra-strong pulses at the block, one from the right, the other from the left, the block is literally held in the laser pincers. When the laser pulses penetrate the sample, each of them accelerates a cloud of extremely fast electrons. These two electron clouds then race towards each other with full force and interact with the laser pulse coming towards them.
The subsequent collision is so violent that an extremely large number of gamma quanta are produced, particles of light with an energy even higher than that of X-rays. These collide with each other and light energy is transformed into matter, creating electron-positron pairs. Strong magnetic fields accompanying the process would bundle the positrons into a beam and accelerate them strongly. Over a distance of just 50 micrometers, the particles should be able to reach an energy of one gigaelectronvolt (GeV). A magnitude that would normally require a complete particle accelerator.
Initial tests to test the concept could take place in Hamburg: The European XFEL, the most powerful X-ray laser in the world, is located there. The concept would be helpful for both astrophysics and nuclear physics, as it could be used to simulate various phenomena in the laboratory, at least to some extent, which would allow them to be better understood.
