Reaching high laser intensity by a radiating electron

Abstract

Interaction of an electron with the counter-propagating electromagnetic wave is studied theoretically and with the particle-in-cell simulations in the regime of quantum radiation reaction. We find the electron energy in the center of the laser pulse, as it is a key factor for testing the non-linear quantum electrodynamics vacuum properties in the laser-electron collision in the regime of multi-photon Compton scattering and vacuum Cherenkov radiation. With multiparametric analysis we provide the conditions on electron initial energy for reaching the center of the laser pulse and emitting Cherenkov photons.