Spin polarization of an ultrarelativistic electron beam head-on colliding with an ultraintense laser pulse is investigated in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. We develop a Monte Carlo method to model electron radiative spin effects in arbitrary electromagnetic fields by employing spin-resolved radiation probabilities in the local constant field approximation. Because of spin-dependent radiation reaction, the applied elliptically polarized laser pulse polarizes the initially unpolarized electron beam and splits it along the propagation direction into two oppositely transversely polarized parts with a splitting angle of about tens of milliradians. Thus, a dense electron beam with above 70% polarization can be generated in tensof femtoseconds with realistic laser pulses. The proposed method demonstrates a way for relativistic electron beam polarization with currently achievable laser facilities.

Generation of circularly polarized (CP) and linearly polarized (LP) $\gamma$ rays via the single-shot interaction of an ultraintense laser pulse with a spin-polarized counterpropagating ultrarelativistic electron beam has been investigated in nonlinear Compton scattering in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. For the process simulation, a Monte Carlo method is developed which employs the electron-spin-resolved probabilities for polarized photon emissions. We show efficient ways for the transfer of the electron polarization to the high-energy photon polarization. In particular, multi-GeV CP (LP) $\gamma$ rays with polarization of up to about 95% can be generated by a longitudinally (transversely) spin-polarized electron beam, with a photon flux meeting the requirements of recent proposals for the vacuum birefringence measurement in ultrastrong laser fields. Such high-energy, high-brilliance, high-polarization $\gamma$ rays are also beneficial for other applications in high-energy physics, and laboratory astrophysics.

The feasibility of the generation of bright ultrashort gamma-ray pulses is demonstrated in the interaction of a relativistic electron bunch with a counterpropagating tightly focused superstrong laser beam in the radiation-dominated regime. The Compton scattering spectra of gamma radiation are investigated using a semiclassical description for the electron dynamics in the laser field and a quantum electrodynamical description for the photon emission. We demonstrate the feasibility of ultrashort gamma-ray bursts of hundreds of attoseconds and of dozens of megaelectronvolt photon energies in the near-backwards direction of the initial electron motion. The tightly focused laser field structure and the radiation reaction are shown to be responsible for such short gamma-ray bursts, which are independent of the durations of the electron bunch and of the laser pulse. The results are measurable with the laser technology available in the near future.

Traditional photonuclear reactions primarily excite giant dipole resonances, making the measurement of isovector giant resonances with higher multipolarities a great challenge. In this Letter, the manipulation of collective excitations of different multipole transitions in even-even nuclei via vortex $\gamma$ photons is investigated. We develop the calculation method for photonuclear cross sections induced by the vortex $\gamma$ photon beam using the fully self-consistent random-phase approximation plus particle-vibration coupling ($\mathrm{RPA}+\mathrm{PVC}$) model based on Skyrme density functional. We find that the electromagnetic transitions with multipolarity $J<|m_{\gamma }|$ are forbidden for vortex $\gamma$ photons due to the angular momentum conservation, with $m_{\gamma }$ being the projection of total angular momentum of $\gamma$ photon on its propagation direction. For instance, this allows for probing the isovector giant quadrupole resonance without interference from dipole transitions using vortex $\gamma$ photons with $m_{\gamma }=2$. Furthermore, the electromagnetic transition with $J=|m_{\gamma }|+1$ vanishes at a specific polar angle. Therefore, the giant resonances with specific multipolarity can be extracted via vortex $\gamma$ photons. Moreover, the vortex properties of $\gamma$ photons can be meticulously diagnosed by measuring the nuclear photon-absorption cross section. Our method opens new avenues for photonuclear excitations, generation of coherent $\gamma$ photon laser and precise detection of vortex particles, and consequently, has significant impact on nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics and strong laser physics.

The interaction of an unpolarized electron beam with a counterpropagating ultraintense linearly polarized laser pulse is investigated in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. We employ a semiclassical Monte Carlo method to describe spin-resolved electron dynamics, photon emissions and polarization, and pair production. Abundant high-energy linearly polarized $\gamma$ photons are generated intermediately during this interaction via nonlinear Compton scattering, with an average polarization degree of more than 50%, further interacting with the laser fields to produce electron-positron pairs due to the nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process. The photon polarization is shown to significantly affect the pair yield by a factor of more than 10%. The considered signature of the photon polarization in the pair's yield can be experimentally identified in a prospective two-stage setup. Moreover, with currently achievable laser facilities the signature can serve also for the polarimetry of high-energy high-flux $\gamma$ photons.

Spin-polarization effects of an ultrarelativistic electron beam head-on colliding with an ultraintense two-color laser pulse are investigated comprehensively in the quantum radiation-dominated regime. We employ a Monte Carlo method, derived from the recent work of Li et al. [ Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 154801 (2019)], to calculate the spin-resolved electron dynamics and photon emissions in the local constant field approximation. We find that electron radiation probabilities in adjacent half cycles of a two-color laser field are substantially asymmetric due to the asymmetric field strengths and, consequently, after interaction the electron beam can obtain a total polarization of about 11% and a partial polarization of up to about 63% because of radiative spin effects, with currently achievable laser facilities, which may be utilized in high-energy physics and nuclear physics. Moreover, the considered effects are shown to be crucially determined by the relative phase of the two-color laser field and robust with respect to other laser and electron-beam parameters.