Attosecond gamma-ray flashes and electron-positron pairs in dyadic laser interaction with micro-wire

Beams of photons and charged particles of high energy and high brightness find application across a range of disciplines in both fundamental and applied sciences. The interaction of an ultra-intense laser with matter has been shown to be an efficient source of high-energy particles, but typical schemes generate spatially broad distributions with high-divergence and low-brightness. In this paper we report on emission of highly collimated, ultrabright, attosecond γ-photons and generation of dense electron-positron pairs via a tunable particle generation scheme which utilises the interaction of two high-power lasers with metallic micro-wire target. Irradiating the target with a radially polarised laser pulse first produces a series of high charge, short duration, electron bunches with low transverse momentum. These electron bunches subsequently collide with a counter-propagating high intensity laser. Depending on the intensity of the counter-propagating laser, the scheme can be used to generate either highly collimated ultra-bright MeV-GeV γ-beams or electron-positron bunches with densities approaching the solid density level.