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A team of Livermore researchers has developed an improved method for creating a large number of positrons in a laboratory, opening the door to new areas of antimatter research. Led by physicist Hui Chen in the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, the team used a short-pulse, ultraintense laser to irradiate a millimeter-thick gold target. Previously, we concentrated on making positrons using paper-thin targets, says physicist Scott Wilks, who designed and modeled the experiment using computer codes. Recent simulations showed that millimeter-thick gold would produce far more positrons. We were excited to see so many of them. In the experiment, the laser ionizes and accelerates electrons, which are driven right through the gold target. The electrons interact with the gold nuclei, which serve as a catalyst to create positrons. Because the laser concentrates energy in space and time, it produces positrons more rapidly and in greater density than ever before in a laboratory.