Absorption of ultra-intense intense laser pulse in self-generated pair plasma

Plasma physics in extreme fields requires taking into account Quantum Electrodynamics effects such as non-linear Compton scattering and Breit-Wheeler pair production. Such effects intervene in laser-plasma interactions at ultra high intensities (I \textgreater 1023 W/cm$^2$). The self-consistent modeling of these scenarios is challenging since some localized regions of ultra-intense field will produce a vast number of pairs that may cause memory overflow during the simulation. To overcome this issue, we have developed a merging algorithm that allows merging a large number of particles into fewer particles with higher particle weights while conserving local particle distributions. This algorithm is crucial to investigate the laser absorption in self-generated pair plasmas. During the interaction, the laser energy is converted into pairs and photons and the absorption become significant when the plasma density reaches the critical density. We present the results of 3D PIC-QED simulations (Osiris 2.0) showing the respective fraction of laser energy transferred into pairs and photons. The dependence of the laser absorption on the laser parameters for various configurations is also discussed.