AbstractWe study finite-coupling corrections on the energy loss of light quarks in strongly coupled $${\mathcal {N}}=4$$
N
=
4
super Yang–Mills (SYM) plasma. We perform the analysis by computing the stopping distance of an image jet induced by a massless source field, characterized by a massless particle falling along the null geodesic in Einstein gravity with curvature-squared ($$R^2$$
R
2
) corrections. It turns out that the stopping distance in the $$R^2$$
R
2
theories can be larger or smaller than its SYM counterpart ...
