Ultra-bright gamma photon sources can be produced with PetaWatt and multi-PW class lasers and combined, in a multi-beam facility like Apollon, with plasmas or charged particle beams to explore applications in material science, astrophysics, nuclear physics or strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED). In this experiment the production of high-energy gamma photons from the irradiation of a foam-based double layer target by the 1PW beam (F2) will be studied. The target consists of a few-10s-of-μm-thick, near-critical foam attached to a solid, few-μm-thick substrate: the first layer provides the source of hot electrons and medium where the laser pulse is tailored and focused, the second layer acts as a plasma mirror where the laser is reflected. A non-linear inverse Compton Scattering (NICS) mechanism occurs. In the first part of the experiment we will characterize and optimize the electron source. In the second part we will realize and optimize the gamma source (predicted to reach 100s of MeV according to simulations). Moreover, we will focus on the competition of two photon generation mechanisms: Bremsstrahlung and
NICS. We will compare the respective emission characteristics and conversion efficiencies form laser energy. This study represents a first step towards a design for future MultiPetawatt multi-beam SF-QED experiments at Apollon.
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