High Energy Photon Detection In Intense Laser Matter Interactions

With the advent of petawatt peak power laser systems, some of the most extreme conditions in the universe can be generated in the laboratory today. At the focus of such a powerful laser, matter is instantly ionized, and electrons accelerated to near the speed of light, producing regimes in which teravolt per meter electric fields and gigagauss magnetic fields are common. This gives rise to a host of compact radiation sources, including electron, ion, neutron, positron and x-ray beams.