{
  "abstract": "Despite many experimental attempts, laboratory pair-beam sources have not yet reached the charge, collimation, and density needed to observe kinetic pair-plasma instabilities. Here we show that an optimised direct-laser-acceleration (DLA) regime in a gas target can close this gap in the regime of kilojoule-class petawatt lasers. Quasi-3D PIC and Geant4 simulations show that DLA-accelerated electron bunches carry tens of nC at GeV-scale energies with low divergence. Converted in a high-Z target, they generate up to 3x10^12 positrons with tunable energy spectra and transverse sizes of several skin depths in the beam rest frame. A proof-of-principle PIC simulation of the pair beam propagating through background gas shows the growth of a current-filamentation instability. This provides direct numerical evidence that kinetic pair dynamics are within reach of near-term facilities such as ELI-L4. The same electron driver also generates 6.5x10^5 Bethe-Heitler muons per shot, at up to 580 muons/J. We derive a scaling law for the muon yield and validate it against Geant4 simulation. Above a modest driver-energy threshold, the yield depends on the total energy delivered to the electron beam rather than on its peak energy - a design principle for future laser-based muon sources. These results establish DLA-driven secondary sources as a practical, near-term pathway to laboratory pair plasmas, high-yield muon beams, and lepton-accelerator injectors.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.18775",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "R. Babjak"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Pouyez"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. Badiali"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. Grismayer"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Vranic"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2231s886n584p.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.18775",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "2231s886n584p",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.18775",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.plasm-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213524600",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.18775",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-16",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2231s886n584p.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:22:01Z",
      "native_id": "2609.18775",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.18775"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.plasm-ph",
      "subfield": "plasma"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Kilojoule-scale laser acceleration enabling efficient generation of electron-positron and muon beams",
  "title_text": "Kilojoule-scale laser acceleration enabling efficient generation of electron-positron and muon beams",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:22:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2231s886n584p",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}