Electron-positron pairs and radioactive nuclei production by irradiation of high-Z target with γ-photon flash generated by an ultra-intense laser in the λ³ regime

This paper studies the interaction of laser-driven $\gamma$-photons and high energy charged particles with high-Z targets through Monte-Carlo simulations. The interacting particles are taken from particle-in-cell simulations of the interaction of a tightly-focused ultraintense laser pulse with a titanium target. Lead is chosen as the secondary high-Z target owing to its high cross section of the giant dipole resonance and electron-positron pair production. The results reveal an ultra-short ultra-relativistic collimated positron population and their energy spectra, angular distribution, and temporal profile are found. We investigate the target thickness dependence of the resulting total numbers and total kinetic energies of various particle species emitted from the lead target irradiated with laser-generated $\gamma$-photons and charged particles separately. We plot the charts of residual high-Z nuclides generated by irradiation of the lead target. Owing to the short pulse duration, the $\gamma$-photon, electron-positron, and neutron sources can find applications in material science, nuclear physics, laboratory astrophysics, and as injectors in laser-based accelerators of charged particles.