QED cascade initiation via reflection of a multipetawatt laser pulse from a self-organized parabolic plasma mirror

The self-sustained or avalanche-type cascade is an intriguing prediction of strong-field quantum electrodynamics (QED) that has yet to be observed in laboratories. It is accompanied by the conversion of electromagnetic energy into gamma photons and electron–positron (e−e+) pairs, whose number increases exponentially over time. We investigate a simple configuration to initiate a QED cascade: it is based on the superposition of an incident multipetawatt laser pulse and its reflection from a solid target. The incident laser pulse ≪deforms≫ the initially flat target surface, creating a parabolic mirror that focuses the reflected radiation. For the considered setup, the threshold laser power is about 7 PW. With a 27 PW laser pulse, positron production exhibits clear signatures of an avalanche-type cascade, including exponential growth and more than 15 positron generations with similar energy spectra. Therefore, observing an avalanche-type QED cascade does not require the use of multiple laser channels with precise spatiotemporal synchronization, as previously supposed.